Plucking Strings
by Digitize27
Summary: A chance collision early in Naruto's life will irrevocably change the path he takes; what happens when Naruto's views are shifted before even his dream to become Hokage? Where will his new path take him, and how many strings will he pull or threads will he trip over along the way? Puppeteer!Naruto
1. Humble beginnings

**1 D0 N01 0Wn N4rU10, D1dN'1 y0U Kn0W 1H4t 8Y n0W?**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces." – Georg Buchner_

* * *

Among the civilian population of the Elemental Nations there were many thoughts regarding the Hidden Villages that fell across the map, paragons of their respective country's defence. Most thought of them as simple settlements, containing garrisons of Shinobi ready to leave at a word's notice from their leader, or Kage when it concerned the major five. Others thought of them with scorn or jealousy, regaling accounts of their use of various techniques that made the fighting force so famous; their 'Jutsu'. Few however believed them to be simple villages, with a bustling, vibrant life, filled with merchants calling out their wares, children running through the streets or parks and a general hive of activity.

However, in the case of Konohagakure no Sato of the Land of Fire, that was exactly what it was. Shinobi were an ever constant presence of course, so tightly engrained within the ethos of life there, but for the most part they worked in the background. Their main presence in the village was in fact the many D-ranked so-called 'missions' that were the bane of a young genin's life. The only other place where civilian and Shinobi really met was the academy, squirreled away near the Hokage tower with the ever-present monument of Hokage's past and present looming overhead like a silent vigil.

Here children were brought at the young age of six to be first introduced to the life of their home's silent guardians. Slowly, over the years, they would not only learn this lifestyle, but adopt it for themselves, training their bodies and minds into the service of the village. However in those early years, when their bodies were untrained and their minds still naïve and idle fantasies of rescuing princesses and flamboyant techniques still crowded their thoughts their studies, were far more mundane.

However that morning, with the summer sun burning hotly overhead, there was one six year old not in class; first period history. Uzumaki Naruto sat on a rooftop that gave him a prime view of the academy, a street away. At first glance one might have thought he was skipping the class due to boredom however Naruto was actually incredibly interested in the history of his village. They often told tales of the previous Shinobi that had come before them and their rise into fame and power along with the battles that brought them there.

In fact Naruto had chosen this very spot because despite the small rebellious streak running through his childish form, he wanted to be caught. It would be simple enough for his Sensei to notice his absence and with only a single glance out of the window, spot him sitting there, staring at his classroom. However it had already been half an hour since the start of class and Naruto was still sitting there, slowly swinging his legs back and forth as his posture grew increasingly slumped and despondent. His hands clenched and unclenched beside him, making his nails click rhythmically along the tiles of the roof until he finally jumped to his feet, an irritated scowl plastered across his whiskered cheeks.

"Fine then –ttebayo! If they don't want me then I don't need them!" The young spiky-haired blonde angrily ran across the roof, jumping the small gap before grabbing a nearby drain pipe and sliding all the way to the ground. Many would have seen the feat and been rather surprised that it was such a young child doing it; then again in Konoha most would have simply turned away once they had seen that it as _that _particular child. Landing in a crouch Naruto quickly took off in a random direction, pawing at his face to remove the slight wetness that had entered his eyes; he had told himself a long time ago that he refused to cry anymore… it had never gotten him anything anyway.

When the old man, that Naruto would later come to realise was in fact the Hokage himself, first told him that he would be entering the academy his childish mind had done what so many before had done, conjured up images of death-defying missions, praise from thankful clients and many awesome Jutsu to learn that would make him powerful. However unlike many other children that took for granted simple things that Naruto never had, like family, or friendship, there was something he craved far more.

As a younger child he had loved those rare days when he could walk up to a group of kids playing Ninja and they would allow him to join in. However the next day, like clockwork, he would return only to have them turn on him, either running away or telling him to go away. He had caught more than a few suspicious or hostile looks from the parents when he approached their children, to the point where he had stopped trying, preferring to sit by himself, listening to their happy cries so that he could close his eyes and just for a while, pretend he was amongst them.

However the academy was supposed to be different, he would be joining other kids looking to become Shinobi, they would be learning together as classmates. However his young, naïve hopes had been soundly crushed within the first week of children and Sensei alike ignoring him as if he carried some disease. At first he tried to persevere, hoping that if he showed he was good enough, like that Sasuke boy, they would see how amazing he was. However a lot of the other kids seemed to have some training beforehand and there were a lot of things he just didn't understand in class. He refused to ask though, thinking it would make him seem stupid to the others.

There's only so much a young child can take though, which saw the blonde running away from the academy where he was obviously unwanted, just like in the rest of the village. He paused in a lonely street for a few seconds to catch his breath, considering where he should go now. A pang of guilt passed through him when he thought of the Ichiraku's; his first thought had been to return to the Ramen stand where he felt so warm and wanted. However Teuchi and Ayame had seemed so happy when he told them about the academy; to return there to tell them he had just given up felt painful.

A burst of determination flooded the young child; he hadn't given up yet! However, in a twist of fate, just as he resolved to return to the academy and walked out of the alleyway he managed to run into a large man going past. After a few mumbled curses the man continued on with barely a passing glance, leaving the young kid sitting on the dusty street, clutching his head and suppressing tears. As he wiped them away before they could form though he looked up to see a large building he had only ever noticed in passing before on the trip between his small apartment and the academy; the library.

With a bright grin Naruto burst to his feet with a previously hidden energy, Shibuki-sensei's words about the library flashing through his mind. He had told the class it was somewhere they could go to supplement their own learning but Naruto had never bothered with it before as reading was difficult for him. However if it helped him become an awesome Shinobi that his classmates would respect and admire he'd try just about anything. That was why around ten minutes later he was happily walking out of the building with a stack of books that almost cut off his view of the path in front of him.

He had expected some trouble from the librarian but the bored-looking man lounging behind the desk, a chuunin by his forest-green flak jacket, had barely given him a second glance. It still bothered Naruto how the adults would always ignore him, as if his existence was so negligible it wasn't even worth noting, but if it helped him he wouldn't complain. That was why there was a truer than usual grin spreading his cheeks and turning his eyes intro fox-like slits as he jogged towards the training grounds reserved for academy students. There was one he was particularly fond of that was fairly far away from the academy because it was close to the real training grounds and occasionally he could catch the sounds of Shinobi sparring.

As he sat down on the soft grass, books spread about him like petals of a flower to which he was the stem, he couldn't help but feel like this was a turning point for him.

* * *

"Ah screw this –'ttebayo!" Naruto clutched a book on Chakra theory in a white-knuckled hand held over his head, the only thing stopping him from throwing across the clearing being the librarian's absent parting words on damaging the books. Instead he set it down next to the pile of other books he had tried to read, only to be blocked by words he didn't understand, diagrams that hurt his head to look at and sometimes even confusing titles. In later retrospect he would realise that choosing the most advanced books he could find on the subject was a poor choice but right at that moment he was just frustrated at his own inability.

He jumped to his feet so that he could run through some exercises, figuring he could at least work on his fitness as it was the only thing he seemed to have over the rest of the class, unknowing that he hadn't been alone in the clearing for a while now and a single eye watched him curiously from the trees.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school kid?" Naruto, so shocked by the sudden voice, span so fast he managed to trip over a haphazardly stacked book pile and ended up in a heap on the floor looking up dazedly at the silver-haired Shinobi that was staring at him with amusement. At least, Naruto assumed it was amusement as the man wore a facemask and had his headband tilted over one eye leaving just a single eye that was currently closed in a strange facsimile of a smile. The blonde quickly gathered his bearings and scrambled to his feet, an indignant look on his face.

"What's it to you Cyclops!?" To his frustration the man's amused exterior never changed or flickered for a moment and he simply chuckled before looking down at the stacks of books surrounding the boy.

"Well, I was heading to a training ground and spotted you here, seemingly in deep thought. While I admire your work ethic kid, maybe your studies would be a bit more effective with a real Sensei." Naruto glared at the man suspiciously for a moment, thinking about what to say.

"This isn't the way to the training grounds Cyclops." Far from being caught off guard the man only chuckled again, shrugging before scratching his head almost helplessly.

"Oh, well, guess I got lost on the road of life again; oh, and my name is Kakashi by the way, not Cyclops." Naruto blinked at the response; the more time he spent next to this man the more confused he got.

"Yeah well, whatever; I'm not going back to that place!" Kakashi just quirked a single eyebrow, not that Naruto could have seen otherwise, and looked off absently in the direction of the academy.

"Oh, is that so? How else do you expect to become a Shinobi?" The older Ninja almost seemed like he wanted to chuckle again considering Naruto was increasingly looking like a bird that had just been doused with water, feathers ruffled and everything.

"I'll do it myself! I don't need people who don't want me!" Kakashi tilted his head a little, oddly reminding Naruto of a dog, before giving that strange smile again.

"Ah, and I see that is going well based on all these books you've read?" His tone was obviously sarcastic as he motioned to the books strewn about, none of them open past the tenth page. For the first time in the conversation Naruto allowed something other than indignation on his face as his cheeks turned a pale red hue.

"I-It's not my fault if the books all use stupid long words. They should just say what they are trying to say -'ttebayo." Kakashi suddenly surprised the younger boy by plopping to the ground, his head cocking to the other side again as he seemed to peer right through Naruto. Infuriatingly, even sitting down he was still at eye level with the diminutive six year old. He just looked at Naruto until he was beginning to get weirded out before finally giving out a thoughtful hum.

"No." Naruto blinked, the man had been silent for so long that when he finally spoke Naruto had just been expecting… more.

"No?" The man nodded succinctly, smiling again as if he had come across some great revelation with this simple word.

"No. I don't think your problem is the books, or the academy; after all, you seemed pretty quick to give up on both." Suddenly Naruto's face was red for a wholly different reason as he bristled, much to Kakashi's amusement of course.

"Hey I didn't give up, dattebayo!" However much to his chagrin Kakashi simply waved away his angry words absently as if he were shooing some irritating puppy.

"Sure, sure, but like I was saying, they aren't your problem." Naruto paused at that, suddenly feeling a little interested despite his previous irritation. "You're problem is, that you lack a goal." Naruto blinked, his anger gone as he slowly sunk to the ground, his shoulder slumping a little.

"A goal?" Kakashi gave him an eye-smile as he saw him becoming a little more receptive to what he was saying and less aggressive.

"Uh huh, a goal, a driving force behind what you do, motivation so that you don't just quit as soon as it becomes a little difficult. If you have a goal, then you have a reason to keep going forward even if it gets difficult. Right now, you have no goal so that means you just want things to be easy." Naruto rightfully looked sheepish at that as Kakashi motioned towards the books again before looking back up at the Jounin questioningly.

"So what should my goal be?" At that Kakashi could only shrug, still with the odd expression of his.

"I can't really tell you that kid, it has to be something you tell yourself otherwise it's pointless. Nothing but an assignment you won't really care about." Naruto frowned at that, internally pondering just what could be his goal. It started to make him think about why he did anything in a village that didn't seem to even want him which just made him depressed like what always happened when he was alone with his thoughts. It was the reason he was so fond of distracting himself, so he wouldn't have to think about these painful things. "But you know…" Naruto looked up as he saw Kakashi looking at him, smile gone and replaced with a more contemplative expression. "…A lot of powerful Shinobi, like the Hokage for instance, make their goal to become strong enough to protect what is important to them, and…" Naruto was now rapt on every word Kakashi said.

"And…?" Kakashi chuckled at the boy, suddenly reaching across to ruffle his hair, much to his annoyance.

"And, like the Hokage, you need to start at the bottom, in the academy. The beginning of a journey may not be the most exciting part, but you can't just skip to the end." Naruto groaned, pulling away from the man and his hand and clambering to his feet.

"Fine, fine, I get it –'ttebayo! I'll go back." Kakashi stood up as well, mock saluting the boy with two fingers as he turned to leave.

"Don't worry about it too much kid, once you have that goal I'm sure you'll be fine." With that he suddenly flickered before vanishing completely, making Naruto's eyes widen with awe. He walked forward a few steps to where the Jounin had been only to look down as his foot landed on something that wasn't grass. At first glance he thought it was one of the library books, but it was too small. Picking it up the non-descript black book and flicking it open to the first page he realised it was filled with various profiles of different Ninja, some of them clearly marked as Nuke-nin.

"Hey Cyc… ah, Kakashi-san!" The blonde called out into the trees but when no answer came he looked back down at the book in confusion, wondering how the man had managed to drop it. With a shrug he threw it atop the pile of books he already had, frowning as he realised he was going to have to return them before going back to the academy.

True to his word though Naruto did go back to the academy that day, simply walking into class during the third period and sitting down. The teacher said nothing, continuing his class like nothing had happened even while the other kids whispered amongst themselves about the 'troublemaker'. However far from his usual loud self, Naruto was surprisingly withdrawn during the day, thinking about the little black book he now had in his sleeveless orange hoodie's front pocket.

He had tried to return it at the library with the other books, as he had assumed that was just what you did with books but the chuunin had told him he couldn't just give the library any old book he hadn't checked out. So now he was holding onto it, his fingers clicking across the table as he felt its weight in his pocket. Looking up he saw the teacher was writing math equations up on the board, complicated things Naruto couldn't even begin to be working out. Instead his hand almost subconsciously slipped into his front pocket, fingers tracing across the smooth book cover.

Discretely he took it out and opened it up, idly flicking through the first couple of pages. At first it was just out of idle curiosity, after all it was basically filled with pages of powerful Shinobi along with a bit of information on them. However the more he read the more he found himself engrossed; these Shinobi and Kunoichi were from all across the Elemental Nations. Their headbands, scratched out or not, were showing a plethora of different symbols, some they hadn't even been taught about. All their skill-sets were so different it almost boggled the young boy's mind how they had all become so powerful through such different methods.

Then of course it happened, Naruto flipped the page and there at the top, marking the Shinobi's rank and therefore ability, was a large, bold 'S'. Naruto paused, looking at the page to see if he had gotten it wrong but sure enough it was an S, the highest rank a Shinobi could be given. Akasuna no Sasori; that would be the name engraved into Naruto's mind for the remainder of his life. At first glance Naruto could see a lot of similarities between himself and the young-looking redheaded teenager staring blankly out of the page at him, the spiky hair for one.

However as he read down he only grew more engrossed, completely uncaring that this man was also a Nuke-nin. Puppeteer; at that moment Naruto had no idea how much reading that one word would affect his life but he knew he was interested. The whole concept seemed to appeal to him; building puppets to use in fighting almost sounded like making your own friends, ones that would never be able to rebuke or disappoint him because he controlled them completely. Slowly a grin split his features as he read on, the lesson continuing around him forgotten.

It was almost disappointing when he reached the end of the profile and he immediately flicked through the book to find more of them but there were only a few B-ranks, nothing as impressive as the supposed repertoire Sasori had at his command. It was disappointing but it didn't get Naruto down; for once he had found something that honestly and truly interested him, something to aim for, to be good at, to become powerful with.

It was his goal.

* * *

The rest of the day passed far too slowly for Naruto's likeness and as soon as the last bell rang Naruto was out of the classroom so fast it was as though he had used the body flicker. It took him only a few minutes at his pace to reach the library and he immediately rushed up to the desk where the bored Chuunin still sat, leaning back on his chair and flicking through a small orange book. Much to Naruto's annoyance though, when he asked for a book on puppetry the man had looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a snort before walking off and coming back with a children's book for beginner puppets... unfortunately not the type Naruto wanted.

"What's this –'ttebayo?" The chuunin didn't really seem interested in talking though as he returned to his little book, at least until Naruto threw the book at the teen, nearly causing him to fall backwards off his chair.

"Oi what the hell was that Gaki?!" Naruto just returned the angry expression as he motioned to the brightly coloured book now lying on the floor.

"That's not what I asked for you jerk!" The chuunin with the bandage across his nose simply picked up the book indignantly.

"It's about puppetry ain't it?" He tried to force the book back into Naruto's hands but the blonde simply looked at it as if it were vegetables in his Ramen.

"Yeah, the stupid kind –'ttebayo!" Naruto didn't care about some silly civilian form of entertainment, his puppets would be awesome and scary, not for cheap laughs. The chuunin though just looked confused as he scratched his head.

"What, you're talking about the ninja art those sandy-sandals use? Why the hell would you be looking that up?" Naruto just grinned, jabbing himself in the chest with a thumb.

"I'm going to be the best puppeteer ever – 'ttebayo!" The chuunin looked at the young kid for a good few moments before bursting out laughing, walking off into the book shelves before returning a few moments later, still wiping at his eyes from his laughter as he plopped a book into Naruto's hands.

"That's a good one kid, a Konoha Shinobi becoming a puppeteer. Sorry to burst your bubble but that's a Suna art and damn if they don't guard their secrets like a merchant does his purse." Naruto looked down at the book, it seemed pretty old and seemed to contain accounts of puppeteering from a Konoha perspective during the Second Shinobi war. Naruto blinked at that, he hadn't even known there were Shinobi wars, never mind two of them. Suddenly he remembered the chuunin's words and his laughter.

"I don't care, I'll do it anyway!" The chuunin looked at him for a few more moments before shrugging and sitting back down.

"Knock youself out kid, hell if you manage it I'll be able to laugh at those Suna-nins having one of their 'prized arts' being figured out by a Gaki." Ignoring the last comment due to his mixed feelings because of the veiled encouragement Naruto just nodded slowly before rushing out and back to his apartment.

That evening he stayed up reading that old book until lights had begun going out outside his window; there was definitely nothing technical and not even a single insight for how the Ninja craft could possibly work but he had begun to gain a glimpse at how it might be done. First and foremost seemed to be these Chakra strings Suna Shinobi seemed to be able to make. Now Naruto just had to figure out what the hell Chakra was.

A niggling feeling in the back of Naruto's mind told him that learning puppeteering might just take a while and more than a few trips to the library.

* * *

As Naruto sat on his favourite stool in Ichiraku Ramen, slurping at his noodles and listening to the bustle of the village behind him he reflected on the past few months. Surprisingly, once he had set a goal in his mind he found it a lot easier to just think on his own as, instead of his thoughts drifting onto his past, he simply focused on what was now important to him, it was both liberating and enlightening. For instance, he was amazed at the ease it took to unlock his own Chakra, managing it just a few days after first learning about puppeteering from helpful instruction he found in books.

Making it usable on the other hand was, and continued to be, a problem; controlling the energy that now coursed through his body posed a challenge he had never imagined before. Considering they hadn't begun to teach it in the academy despite many of the clan children already having it unlocked, he could get no help there. Instead he was forced to rely on his new home away from home, the library, and even then the explanations offered by the many books on the subject were both difficult to understand and rather long. Naruto was a doer, not a reader; but all the same he persevered, always keeping that goal clear in his mind.

He had gotten it to the point where he could expel his Chakra from his fingers, definitely a step in the right direction in his eyes. Unfortunately every advance was met with another roadblock as creating strings out of his Chakra proved to be damn near impossible. The problem was that Chakra had no real substance; when it came out of his fingers it was just a wispy, purple, steam-like substance, somewhere between a liquid and a gas with the consistency of a cloud. How he was supposed to turn that into something tangible that could actually latch onto a puppet was far beyond him and considering Konoha had never invested time into working out how puppeteering worked even the library couldn't help him.

Maybe his control was simply lacking? While it was true he could somewhat push and pull the wispy Chakra he emitted it wasn't to any great degree. Maybe if he just worked harder at those Chakra control exercises he had been reading about he could manage a short thread and just make it longer over time. He sighed into his ramen, already feeling a small headache form as he thought of all the leaves he was going to disintegrate before he could get that damn exercise down.

"What's the long face for Naruto-kun?" The blonde looked up, spotting Ayame staring at him from the kitchen in the back of the stand, Teuchi having stepped out for a while. She was kneading the dough that would eventually become the Ramen noodles; watching her or Teuchi doing that as a kid had always calmed him, just watching as they span the dough, stringing it out, spinning it more before pulling once again until they could form it into the thin, thread-like….

Naruto's eyes suddenly widened as he looked down at his hands incredulously, wondering just how stupid he had to be to miss something so obvious. Suddenly, and to Ayame's great surprise Naruto vaulted the counter of the stand and threw his arms around the older girl, a beaming grin lighting up his face.

"You're the best Ayame Nee-chan!" As quickly as the hug came Naruto was gone, vaulting back over the counter and off in the direction of his apartment. The poor ramen waitress was left shell-shocked and confused, blinking once or twice before chuckling to herself, shaking her head at the young boy's antics.

The moment Naruto got home he leapt over his couch and grabbed the small wooden doll he had left there the previous night, It was a simple thing that he hadn't even made; the academy used it in their anatomy lessons and Naruto had simply taken it one day. He had thought having something to aim at would help him create the strings; even if it hadn't he still kept it around anyway. Now though, as he placed it in front of him, he couldn't keep the smile off his face. He quickly felt through his body for the surge of energy contained deep within and brought it to the surface, focusing it to his fingertips.

However, where before he simply allowed the wispy blue Chakra to steam out of his fingers, this time he did his utmost to spin it, trying to coil the insubstantial mist into a thread. His eyes widened greatly as instead of the purplish mist he usually got he found an almost conical stream exiting each of his fingers. He was so surprised he immediately lost control and the Chakra quickly dissipated into the air but he didn't care much at all.

"Yes!" He jumped up in the air, fist pumping up with his exclamation of excitement as he did a small dance of happiness around his table. It certainly wasn't a thread but it was something, and Naruto could work with something.

He could finally feel his dream coming together.

* * *

Unfortunately Naruto had no idea that 'finally' would be more than six months; it took him that long of practising every day after school before he could form anything even vaguely reminiscent of Chakra strings. It was slow going both because forming them as he was became inefficient and tiring so he couldn't practise for long and occasionally he would practise too hard and end up burning out the tenketsu on his fingertips. Those incidents cost him weeks of practise at a time before his Chakra system could heal.

That wasn't to say they were time wasted; once he had gotten over the initial stigma Naruto had actually found a lot to be enjoyed in reading, and not only about his favoured art or how to advance as a Shinobi. Each book was like a portal to a different world, one where he didn't have to remember his past or focus on the ignorance the villagers gave him. Reading became his solace in a grey, ignorant world and had even taken to doing it in class, not that his teachers cared.

In the end though he had finally managed to form the thrice-damned threads only to realise he had no idea how he was supposed to attach them to a puppet. Another three months passed before he figured out the trick, purely by accident. He had gotten frustrated and tired after almost an hour of attempting it on the little wooden doll to the point where he began to lose control of the threads making them 'fray' at the ends. When he realised this and tried to fix them they were still touching the doll and with the next twitch of his finger the doll's arm had jerked forward.

Naruto had fallen over his chair in surprise.

* * *

Naruto walked slowly through the streets of the village; he had just left the academy, his last day of the first year in fact. Many of the other kids had rushed out ahead of him, happy to talk with their friends or make plans for the break before their second year. Naruto was content to simply stroll out; it was amazing how little he seemed to rush nowadays now that he actually had somewhere to be. As he walked into an apartment that a year ago he wouldn't have recognised as his own due to how clean it was he could help but smile. There on his table, as it always was, stood the small wooden doll he practised with.

From the door he reached up, grinning as thin purple threads span themselves from his fingers and almost instantly gripped the puppet in strategic places. With a twitch of his thumb and ring finger it took a confident step forward, its head turning to look at him. With his index and middle fingers he forced the little figure to raise a hand and wave at him, a gesture to which he returned with a content smile.

For a few minutes he made the doll run around, flipping and dancing about as his hands moved and his fingers flexed. He laughed as it performed a particularly flamboyant moved of running up a wall, at least until the stunt caused a piece of paper he had tacked there to fall off and drift to the floor. He reached down to pick it up only for his bright grin to suddenly sober as he realised what it was. A long time ago he had torn Sasori's profile from the Bingo book and tacked it to his wall, as a reminder of his goal.

Looking between the torn page and the wooden doll that ironically had its head tilted up almost expectantly he frowned. He had no reason to be happy right now; it took all of his fingers to even control a puppet this small and his Chakra threads were so visible they actually glowed; compared to the mastery Sasori had over his art it was pitiful. The man was reputed to control ten puppets at a time, a skill only his grandmother and the founder of the puppet art Monzaemon Chikamatsu had ever accomplished.

Slowly Naruto's hand clenched into a fist, he still had so much to do if he wanted to reach his goal, this was just the beginning.


	2. Attaching the threads

**Ara Ara, you guys shouldn't keep spreading these rumors I own Naruto; it's flattering I admit but unfortunately... not true.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"Puppets seem like vampires sometimes. They live, and you're depleted." - Henry Selick_

* * *

It was sometime during his second year of official Shinobi training that Naruto realised he truly despised the academy. Normally the young blonde would be hesitant to say he really hated anything; disliked sure, there were plenty of things he disliked. However to truly hate something you had to have both strong feelings and have rationalised away any and all good points the offending subject may have had; the academy had none. Not only was the institute filled to the brim with disappointments for the fledgling puppeteer, he honestly felt like he learned more from the library.

The children within had initially shunned him so he had lost all interest in trying to vie for their attention or friendship, much preferring the company of the puppets he was slowly constructing. The teachers likewise continued to ignore any questions he might have had, not that he asked many what with him supplementing his learning in the library. Lessons, he found, contained so many useless things, at least to his own mind, when it concerned becoming a Shinobi it baffled him. Of course he accepted that as a young child he may not have the full picture.

For instance, he had once asked one of the girls, out of sheer curiosity, what went on during their separate lessons; after the initial surprise at the 'troublemaker' actually talking to her, the girl told him they learned how to arrange flowers in some. Naruto had nearly laughed out loud at that and when the girl had tried to defend, no doubt using her sensei's words, by saying that it was for infiltration purposes, Naruto actually had. He had walked through the seedier parts of Konoha, seen the women there, and by now was fairly certain that seduction and infiltration had little to do with the arrangement of a colourful bouquet.

Taijutsu was so full of favouritism it was as though the instructors had no wish for the various civilian children to even pass. They were often paired up against the clan children who had years of prior training; even the weird timid girl with the pale eyes often soundly beat her opponents; although she was often annoyingly apologetic afterwards. Naruto was no different, often being paired up against the Uchiha boy, likely the best Taijutsu user in the entire year bar perhaps the Inuzuka. Naruto would always be swiftly and humiliatingly defeated in that regard; but then, that may have been because he rarely, if ever, practised his Taijutsu.

That day, during the second year, when he had firmly come to believe that he despised the academy, was also the day he decided he had enough of being beaten around the sparring ring.

* * *

"_Ahh let's see, how about Uzumaki Naruto aaaaannd… Uchiha Sasuke." Anizawa-sensei, the second year academy instructor, called out to the awaiting crowd of students just outside the sparring ring. Almost immediately the young Uchiha strode out into the ring, a simple affair of a long rope marking out a roughly circular boundary. A few moments later and Naruto, who had been hanging towards the back of the crowd, also walked in at a more sedate pace. Anizawa raised an eyebrow at the way the young blonde was walking as it seemed awfully stiff, but passed it off quickly enough. He had only called out the pair because it was always amusing to watch the blonde get beaten around the ring, never giving up even when faced with an obviously superior opponent._

"_Make the seal of confrontation." Sasuke did so with a bored expression while Naruto held up his hand, his face oddly passive as he slowly moved his fingers into the right pattern. Seeing that they had done so Anizawa stepped out of the ring, hand held up before he brought it back down. "Hajime!" Instantly the muttering and quiet chatter in the group of students ceased as they realised that unlike usual, Naruto had not sprung forward to charge recklessly at Sasuke. Instead the boy slowly moved into what appeared to be the academy style, something nobody had seen Naruto use before._

_Deciding to just get this over with Sasuke moved forward, his speed impressive for his age as he darted towards the blonde. He figured he would try and go for the one hit knockout, sending a straight punch for the boy's face while actually aiming for his stomach. However his eyes widened incredulously as suddenly Naruto's knee appeared between them, blocking his attack while the blonde himself leaned back, letting the feint pass overhead. He continued to surprise everyone there as his other leg suddenly shot up with more speed than he had ever shown before, cracking Sasuke right in the chin and sending the boy flying back, but not out of the ring._

_The boy got up slowly, his eyes wide as he rubbed his chin; that kick had felt like being slammed by a door and it seriously hurt. Steel entered the young Uchiha's eyes as he settled down into his own style that his father was teaching him, the smallest of smiles beginning to tug at his lips. When the two met again Sasuke was no longer underestimating the blonde and the exchange was far more even. Sasuke was obviously the faster and more flexible of the two but Naruto hit like a steel bar and he didn't even seem to feel Sasuke's blows, his expression never changing once. However the most concerning thing was Naruto seemed to be able to predict all of his moves, as if he had eyes in the back of his head._

_Eventually Sasuke was left standing there panting, nursing more than a few nasty bruises, while Naruto still stood in that infuriatingly calm, stiff stance. Anizawa, just like the students, had been watching in amazement and disbelief as the supposed dead-last had actually beaten the current top student in what was supposed to be Sasuke's forte. However just as he was about to call the match to preserve a bit of Sasuke's pride he noticed something that made his eyes narrow._

"_Wait a second!" He suddenly stepped into the ring, grabbing Naruto by the scruff off his neck and picking him up off his feet, all while the boy's expression never changed, like a permanent mask. He forced Chakra into the 'boy' breaking the henge he had noticed over him. There was a poof of smoke and suddenly, in place of the blonde was a rough-hewn wooden mannequin, looking like it had been slapped together from tree logs. Whatever Anizawa had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that; but what was more surprising were the thin, almost invisible blue threads emerging from the puppet that retreated into the crowd of students._

"_Naruto, get out here!" A few seconds later and the blonde walked out from his classmates, wearing a hooded grey jacket that was closed at the front. The sleeves were far too long for his arms, aptly covering his hands and therefore the movement of his fingers. He pulled the hood back to reveal his smirking features; beneath the sleeves his fingers twitched and the puppet in Anizawa's hands jerked to life, quickly hopping out of his grasp and running over to stand beside its creator._

"_What do you think Sensei; pretty cool huh? I call him Dami; he's a little rough around the edges but for my first life-size puppet I'm pretty proud of him." For a long few moments there was silence as the entire class gaped at Naruto and the rough dummy standing by his sides._

"_Naruto, did you… make, this thing?" The blonde nodded happily, still smirking at the shocked looks on his class-mates faces. "And what you did back there; that was puppetry, like a Suna-nin?" Another nod caused the older chuunin to flounder his words for a moment, torn between being impressed an academy student barely eight years of age had somehow managed to reverse-engineer one of Sunagakure's most prize techniques and irritated that it was _this _particular student. Finally though his features schooled as an uncharacteristic scowl found its way onto his features._

"_You're disqualified for cheating." Naruto blinked, the smirk slipping of his face as he nearly lost control of Dami, causing one of its arms to fall limply._

"_Wait what?" The chuunin huffed at the boy, poking the puppet in the chest rather roughly._

"_You cheated, using Jutsu in a Taijutsu spar; don't do it again or you will have detention." Naruto gaped at the man, unsure of what to say to something like that; unfortunately his classmates seemed to have been broken out of their stupor by their Sensei's words._

"_Yeah, don't be such a sore loser that you have to cheat dobe!" That remark was courtesy of Inuzuka Kiba, a rowdy brown-haired boy who quickly instigated the rest of the class into jeering._

"_Cheater!"_

"_Yeah, there's no way Sasuke would lose to you without you cheating!"_

"_Go play with your dolls somewhere else dobe!"_

_The rest were along the same line as Naruto's confused expression slowly morphed into a deep scowl. Even though the place constantly encouraged creativity and skill, and thinking like a ninja, apparently Naruto was the one person not truly allowed to. Pulling the hood back up over his features and commanding Dami to follow him he made a move to walk back into the crowd only to be stopped by his Sensei's voice again._

"_Naruto, I'll be taking you to see the Hokage after the academy day is over; he'll want to hear about your… extra-curricular activities." Naruto froze but didn't turn around, slowly nodded before retreating to the back of the crowd, his classmates jeers and shouts still ringing in his ears._

_Oh yes, he despised the academy alright._

* * *

In Naruto's humble opinion, the look of utter shock on the Hokage's face that day as he demonstrated his puppeteering was damn near worth the jeers of his classmates. He was sure the pipe that was almost a permanent feature on the old man's face nearly fell out as he made Dami wave causally at the aged Kage during his greeting. However the meeting had only gone down-hill from there as the Hokage had immediately asked him just who had been training him in puppeteering. It was a hard to describe feeling when one of the people you looked up to most showed just how little they thought of you.

Even worse, when Naruto had defended himself and told the Hokage he had learnt everything himself through mostly trial and error the man had asked for proof. Proof! The proof was in the bandages running up Naruto's arms from the times he had burned out the Tenketsu in his hands. The proof was in the sweat he had poured into creating Dami and the excruciatingly long hours he had spent in his apartment long into the night learning how to control him to the extend he could nearly imitate himself.

It had taken far too long to convince the man that this was his own endeavour and by the end Naruto felt an almost physical pain in his chest every time he would see the aged Kage's eyes looking him over skeptically. The final insult came as Naruto was leaving, disheartened and disillusioned, when the Hokage had the gall, the utter nerve, to tell him he was proud of Naruto. Proud! The man had spent the past half hour convinced Naruto hadn't done a damn thing he should have done and was trying to convince Naruto to tell him who his mysterious trainer was, and when he finally relented there was no such person suddenly he is proud that Naruto could do something on his own?

As Naruto left that office he made a silent vow to himself behind a cold mask that hid a furious scowl.

He'd show them 'proud'.

* * *

Umino Iruka was not normally the type of man to let his class see his good moods so easily, however as he walked into the classroom that day he didn't bother to hide his warm smile. After all, today was the graduation exam for his latest group of students; and what a group it was. The young chuunin felt rather privileged to have born witness to what he truly believed to be the future of Konoha. Never had a class been so full of both future clan heads and promising Shinobi and Iruka was the one to finally see them off their long journey to becoming the fine Shinobi he could already see them as.

As he let his gaze drift about the room he felt pride seeing each and every hopeful face. Maybe not all of them would receive their headband today; but those that had worked hard and truly earned it would, and that was what was important. He caught glimpse of the Uchiha boy, a real tragic story over what happened to the poor boy's clan; yet that didn't stop him from becoming Rookie of the year. In the middle rows he saw Ino, Hinata, Chouji, Shikamaru and Shino either talking to one another or patiently waiting for class to start. All of them would become the future backbone of the village as prominent members of their clans. Even Kiba looked joyous, and while he had an older sibling that would likely take their mother's place, he was sure the young Inuzuka would go on to do great things for the village.

Then Iruka's eyes drifted over _him_, the boy sitting pretty much as far from the teachers desk as he was physically able without just up and leaving the room. Uzumaki Naruto was an enigma to the scarred chuunin and had been ever since he had taken over their class two years ago. He had been told the boy was a boisterous, loud-mouthed brat to begin with but sometime during his second year he had simply stopped; fading away into the background. Around the same time the instructors had seen an almost meteoric rise in the blonde's grades; so much so he had begun to threaten some of the top students' positions like Sasuke and Sakura… academically at least.

On the physical side of things he suffered greatly, not that the cause of it was unknown of course. Ever since that day when the boy's alternate 'hobby' was first revealed he had made a challenge out of trying to sneak his henged puppets into the ring, only getting better at it thanks to the teacher's continued efforts to catch him. To this day Iruka could rarely ever tell the difference between the puppeteer and the puppet, which he supposed was exactly the point. It was often said through gritted teeth, but nobody could really disagree, that what the boy showed in his ability with a purely reverse-engineered technique was undoubtedly prodigious skill.

However one day it just stopped; Naruto's grades took a massive dive almost overnight, however not for the reasons many thought, or even hoped for. No, it was blatantly obvious Naruto was purposefully lowering his grades; almost as if he was taunting the academy, saying he was learning nothing from them and didn't care. He consistently kept his grades at the point where he was riding the curve, always just within graduating boundaries, effectively making him the dead-last once more. However it didn't take a genius to see he was purposefully rubbing out correct answers.

One day Iruka had decided to just mark the faded answers anyway as they were still technically correct. The next day when Naruto handed his work in the answers were just rubbed out harder until the blonde had almost ripped the paper. The boy always wore a hood nowadays that shadowed his features but Iruka definitely saw a smirk on his lips that day. Nobody had any idea why the boy had suddenly decided he wanted to be the dead-last… but then, nobody could figure out Uzumaki Naruto at all. Those that actually wanted to anyway.

The boy would sometimes miss two or three days of school entirely, coming in on the third day looking worn out, ill, or covered with various injuries. Honestly, Iruka swore that sometimes it looked like the boy had just gone out and poisoned himself. His arms were consistently covered with bandages and one time when they had slipped off during a Taijutsu spar he had actually participated in they revealed reddened, burned flesh along with many inflamed dots the chuunin could only assume were the boy's Tenketsu.

Over the years the dark shadows under Naruto's eyes that were clearly a sign of sleep deprivation only grew worse and Iruka was fairly certain they were now a permanent feature on his face. Likewise, the previously tanned complexion he had bore as a younger child was gone; the boy had paled considerably lending Iruka to believe he was staying up long into the nights, rarely venturing from his apartment. However even those were difficult to spot now as the boy had also taken to wearing tinted orange goggles that were almost visor-like, covering the majority of his upper face when worn. If they weren't on his face though they hung around his neck, showing half-lidded, bored-looking eyes that gazed out at the world as if through a pane of glass, detached and uncaring.

The young chuunin eventually tore his gaze from the blonde, trying to shake his head of the thoughts that always appeared as his looked at the boy. Instead he coughed into his hand, trying to get the class to quiet down; of course that didn't really work. Why did he even believe it would when it hadn't for the past two years?

"Quiet down!" Suddenly the entire class was silent as the so name 'Big Head Jutsu' was brought into play, something that made Iruka rather infamous among the students. Once they were silent Iruka smiled proudly up at them as if nothing had happened. "Now, we all know just what we're here for today, so let's get going as soon as possible, starting with the written portion of the exam." As Iruka moved behind his desk to grab the test papers he had locked up in the drawer a single bead of cold sweat ran down the back of his neck. He swore at that moment he could actually feel Naruto's gaze on his back as well as the hidden smirk on the boy's features.

* * *

As Naruto took his newly earned headband off of Mizuki, not even bothering to hide his smirk, he made sure to make a small show of deciding how to wear it. Eventually he simply stuffed it into one of the many pockets he had strewn about his person. Once he had been likened to having a small pocket dimension on his person from all the random things he would keep stored, almost impossibly so in some cases. Mostly it was thanks to the large, hooded jacket he wore; it was open at the front to show the equally open vest he wore atop a simple mesh shirt. There were also a fair few pockets in the long, baggy trousers he wore, taped up at the shins of course, but nothing too important was kept there.

He walked home relatively slowly that day, for once enjoying the sun even if none really touched his skin. The graduation exams had ended not too long after lunch so the hubbub in the village had died down for the meantime, at least until the sun started to descend down the horizon again. Naruto was back at his apartment before then so he had a blissfully lonely walk through the relatively quiet streets, just thinking of how everything had worked out. That was the main reason for his smile, not passing; he knew he would pass after all as he had stolen the written test's answer key from Iruka's desk days in advance.

They still had team placements tomorrow but Naruto wasn't too worried; he knew he would graduate as dead-last so his spot on a good team was practically guaranteed. It was ironic that the chuunin instructors still had no idea why his grades had suddenly taken a dive one day; it was simple really. Naruto had simply found out the standard team arrangements for the Rookie of the Year, Kunoichi of the Year and the dead last.

It was rather obvious that Sasuke would become Rookie of the year; even if Naruto had pushed himself to the max he would never have caught up to the Uchiha. He had both a late start grades-wise and his Taijutsu was woefully sub-par; even with the dip the dark-haired boy had taken when his clan was slaughtered the boy had achieved consistently excellent grades in nearly everything. The obvious answer then was to become the dead-last; being on the same team as Sasuke wasn't ideal but the blonde had a feeling the 'last Uchiha' would be getting a good instructor; Naruto simply wanted his share.

When it had actually began to work Naruto was honestly quite surprised; after all he was supposed to just be an academy student; outsmarting chuunin, and it certainly felt like that was what he was doing, wasn't supposed to be an option. Naruto wasn't book-smart in the traditional sense; he was good at reading now but it still took him time to absorb various concepts purely from a page. In practise luckily it was a different story; give him enough time to simply try something out and the boy felt like there was nothing he couldn't work out.

His thoughts turned away from introspection though as he arrived back home, the old rustic apartment building he shared with one or two others, all on different floors. It was a painfully plain building, perfectly blending into the surrounding aesthetic with its six story structure and simple tiled roof; still, it was home. He expertly skirted around the old dog that always lay outside the first-floor occupant's door before simply walking right up the stairwell's far wall. It really was amazing what one could find in the library when they started looking where they shouldn't.

Fumbling through his pockets for only a moment, he really might have too many, he quickly opened his door, only to blanch at what he saw inside. In his small kitchenette a large vaporous cloud of noxious looking purple mist was slowly expanding out from where a small cup of equally vicious-looking liquid had spilled over onto the hob. In a panic he grabbed a nearby cloth, quickly dashed to his bathroom to wet it, slapped his goggles over his eyes and the damp cloth to his mouth before rushing through the vapour to open the window. Thankfully the dense cloud immediately flowed outside; unfortunately it was right into the path of a small blue bird sitting on a cable outside.

The poor creature couldn't even flap its wings before its tiny heart completely gave out from a massive overdose from a poison that really was not supposed to be inhaled. Before it could just limply fall off the wire though a few invisible strands of Chakra latched onto its body, yanking it into the apartment. Making sure the cloud had fully dissipated outside Naruto sighed, righting the spilled bottle and closing the window again.

For a moment he just looked down at the little bird in his hands with a detached expression; it wasn't like he was unused to seeing dead animals, after all he had to test his poisons on something. Then again that something was more often than not himself; there was a reason he often missed whole days of the academy; he needed time to recover. On a brighter note he had observed there was a lot more motivation to come up with antidotes when he had the poison coursing through his bloodstream. Plus, he had to have been developing some sort of immunity or resistance by now right?

With a thoughtful look he held the bird out in front of him with his Chakra threads, moving them about to find the most strategic places that could manipulate it with the least amount of effort. He quickly eliminated six threads, leaving one on the back of its neck, one for each wing joint and another split between its little clawed feet. Suddenly the bird shuddered into some facsimile of life, fluttering its wings experimentally before hopping onto a nearby workbench. Its head cocked so that its glassy, unseeing eyes looked over at Naruto who only looked back with interest as he forced the bird to extend, then retract, then extend its wings again.

A gleam entered the blonde's eye as he rushed over to his main workbench where most of his puppets were constructed. He quickly but carefully moved Dami out of the way; he wasn't even sure why he kept the old puppet… perhaps sentimentality as his first? Naruto just internally shrugged as he set the bird down before grabbing his tools from their nearby hook, a bright grin on his face as ideas swam though his head, just waiting for him to pick out the ones that would connect together like one big jigsaw.

It was probably going to be another sleepless night for him.

* * *

Kakashi felt like putting his face in his hands as he looked over his new Genin team; well, he would see about that soon enough. First there was Sasuke who was pretty much how he had expected the boy; not exactly a good thing but it was workable. The boy simply needed some attachments to his village beyond self-serving reasons and to seriously tone down his obsession with his brother, at least if his introduction was anything to go on. When he had walked in on the team three hours late to the team placements the boy had been over by the wall, glaring out of the window, not saying a word as he entered late even if the irritation was obvious.

Sakura was… unique. If Kakashi was expecting something different from the top Kunoichi he regretted it now. The girl certainly had a one track mind if nothing else; oh yes her… one of a kind introduction said that about her. She had been the one to scream at him for being late in a rather shrill voice he hoped was just a phase. Still, the grades couldn't be that misleading, there was no way she got to be Kunoichi of the Year purely on written test scores. He was sure once he got her out in the field and got a feel for her skills he would see what the academy instructors saw in her.

Then there was Naruto. When he had walked into the classroom the boy had been sound asleep at his desk; his body covered up almost as much as an Aburame. Even now his head kept occasionally nodded forward and his already lidded eyes looked ready to close. The shadows under said eyes were far too deep to be healthy and yet this boy was supposed to be some sort of one-of-a-kind prodigy; forgive Kakashi if he couldn't quite see it. He wasn't entirely sure _why _he was considered a prodigy though; the man had sort of skimmed over the academy reports.

Hell, if the kid's introduction was anything on what he'd be dealing with over the coming months Kakashi couldn't wait for his team to fail like all the others, Yondaime's legacy and Last Uchiha be damned.

* * *

"_Alright then…" Kakashi was sure there was a large drop of sweat rolling down the back of his neck as he forced his eyebrow not to vanish into his hairline at Sakura's… introduction. Sure, he'd call it that for now. "…how about you blondie?" He turned only for the sweat drop to grow exponentially larger; Naruto had at some point in their intros simply fallen asleep, his face resting against his chest as he miraculously managed to stay sitting up._

"_Hey Naruto! Don't fall asleep! You're as bad as Shikamaru!" Sakura made to swing at the back of the blonde's head to wake him up only for Naruto to suddenly slump back at that exact moment. Sakura's swing went wide and she lost balance, awkwardly collapsing over Naruto's unconscious form, the impact on his chest jolting the young puppeteer awake. He blinked once, half-lidded eyes looking down at the weight pressing against his chest._

"_Sakura, get off me." The pinkette immediately scrambled up off the boy, scooting more than was necessary along the bench away from him, her face a virulent red as her eye twitched uncontrollably. More sedately Naruto also got up, looking tiredly around at the silver-haired Jounin and sullen Uchiha who were staring back at him with varied expressions. Sakura avoided his gaze though as she tried to get her face not to match her hair colour. "What'd I miss?" There was that sweat drop getting bigger again as Kakashi forced an eye-smile to his face._

"_We were introducing ourselves; it's your turn." Naruto blinked wearily, looking as though he would much rather be asleep; but then, he didn't want to make a bad impression on his sensei._

"_My name is Uzumaki Naruto." There was a long awkward pause and the blonde quickly began to feel unnerved by the stares he was receiving. It was unknown to him, but he was just as much an enigma to his classmates as he was to his instructors. He used to be that trouble-making kid, but then one day he had just faded away, only really being noticed in his absence. Even Sasuke was mildly intrigued by the only other introverted kid in their class._

_Somewhere else in the village a shades-wearing boy with spiky brown and a high-collared grey jacket sneezed very quietly before consulting with the hive of insects within him as to the cause of his sudden irritation._

"_And…?" Naruto just raised an eyebrow at the silver-haired man._

"_And… what?" The Jounin raised his hand ready to continue but decided against it, just letting it drop to his side lamely._

"_Never mind; that'll do." At this point Sakura had recovered and both she and Sasuke were staring at Naruto and Kakashi strangely._

* * *

And so now they were here and Kakashi was left with one irritable avenger, a blushing fangirl and a sleepy prodigy; just great.

"Well, now that we all know a bit more about one another…" Sasuke and Sakura sweat-dropped at that, having only learned the name of their Sensei and absolutely nothing new about their teammate "… I'll get right to the point. You guys aren't Genin just yet; there's one last test before you can say that." At that even Naruto seemed a little more alert as the three Genin looked at their Sensei cautiously; glad to have their attention Kakashi continued.

"That test you did was to see if you possessed the required skills to become Genin; now I get to see how you put them to use. Come to training ground 3 tomorrow morning at eight o'clock sharp." With that the man stood up, giving a flippant wave and a final parting comment; not that it really did any good for Naruto as the boy had already fallen backwards off the bench and was sound asleep again. "Oh, I recommend you don't eat anything; you'll just be sick." He scratched the back of his head as he looked over the dozing blonde. "Oh, and someone tell Naruto; okay?" Without another word his body flickered for a moment before vanishing entirely.

Despite what he said neither of Naruto's teammates made any effort to wake the puppeteer up. Sasuke simply walked out and Sakura was hot on his heels, trying to think of a way to ask the stoic boy out for a meal. A few moments later though, when he was certain he was alone, Naruto's eye cracked open and a grin alighted on his lips. Now the real fun began.

… or maybe in another five minutes; he really was quite tired.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys; if there's anybody interested, I have a deviantart account under the same psuedonym and have posted a few pictures of the puppets Naruto will come to use throughout the story. Naturally I urge you not to just go to the page to see them as they contain spoilers but as each appears I will be posting a link to their individual page on my profile. In case you were curious, there isn't anything else on my account other than puppet pictures so there's no need to go looking.**

**-Digi-**


	3. A gentle tug here and there

**I wished on a star that I owned Naruto... stupid cheating stars send me a tiny little figurine.**

* * *

**Plucking strings**

_"__As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every moment of time." - John Mason_

* * *

Wataru was a fairly plain man by his own standards; a bartender by trade due to a leg injury forcing him to resign his post as a chuunin. He had done nothing especially exciting in his life, having been too young to have had any meaningful part in the Third Shinobi War and never going on any unique or life-changing missions. However that didn't mean he wasn't content with his life; he was able to ease the problems of weary Shinobi, listen to their stories and sometimes even pick up a bit of interesting information. That was why when another brown-haired, dull-eyed chuunin that he didn't recognise walked into his bar and took a seat on one of the counter's stools he gave the man a friendly wave and a saucer of Sake.

"You look tired kid; rough mission?" The chuunin accepted the drink, picking it up and staring at it for a moment before tipping it down his throat in one go. Immediately the poor teen's eyes went wide as he began coughing into his hand making Wataru smile and pat the kid on the back roughly. "Whoa there kid, take it slow; it's like you've never had a sip of Sake before." The brown-haired teen smiled back weakly, wheezing a little as the burning in his throat subsided.

"Yeah, that helped a little." Wataru grinned and took to collecting a few of the empty bottle scattered over the counter.

"I bet it did; why don't you talk about it?" The chuunin looked down at the now empty saucer before shrugging half-heartedly.

"Sure why not; you know that Kakashi guy?" The bartender gave a quick nod, he had heard enough stories both from and about the man to have a clear enough picture what he was like. "I just came off a mission with him." Wataru gave a quick barking laugh as he began to wipe down the counter; it was getting late and soon all the older chuunin and Jounin would be stopping in for the late-night rush.

"I bet that was rough; I heard the man can be a slave driver on missions yet at the same time manages to be as lazy as the dogs he summons." The young chuunin gave a small chuckle as he put a bit of money down on the bar; Wataru responded by sliding him a full bottle of Sake.

"Yeah, I guess that summed it up pretty well; it was a pretty routine mission but just having a Jounin there really cranked it up a notch." Wataru just nodded again, making long motions with the cloth over the counter until it gleamed back up at him.

"I bet it did; those guys can be pretty intense." The chuunin took another sip, a smaller one this time, and only shuddered a little at the feeling.

"Tell me about it; then again… those habits of his sure are something." Wataru smiled down at the counter, seeing his face staring back at him from the clean polished gleam before turning a grin on his lone customer.

"Ah, I guess you mean him being late all the time. Man if I haven't heard more Shinobi grumbling about his tardiness than I have complaints about that Maito Gai. You know, one time I heard he was almost four hours late to a Jounin meeting of all things." The chuunin laughed, looking a little rosy around the cheeks as he took another sip from his saucer.

"No kidding? He was about an hour late just to turn up to the mission!" Both men shared a chuckle at that before Wataru leaned over the bar a little.

"You know, I gotta ask; I hear all these crazy rumours about the guy having a Sharingan under that headband of his." The chuunin's eyes widened ever so slightly. "What do you know about that?" The chuunin blinked before smiling sheepishly, taking another quick sip of the Sake.

"Sorry I couldn't tell you; he had that thing down for the whole mission; all my squad mates were wondering what he had under there. Same with that mask." Wataru sighed as he leaned back, slightly disappointed.

"Ah well, I guess I'll find out eventually; bag 'a mysteries that Kakashi fellow." The chuunin just nodded before inclining his head and pushing back off the stool.

"Well anyway, thanks for the drink." He walked out of the bar quickly leaving Wataru to continue wiping down the bar.

"Anytime kid, oh I never did catch your…" However the chuunin was already gone; a few moments later another patron that had been sitting in a booth put down some money and wandered out. Wataru thought that was a weird one, wore his hood all the time and only ordered a glass of water. Then again he used to be a chuunin so he knew Shinobi were all sorts of crazy.

Outside, the hooded figure walked down a few streets, subtly tailing the mousy-haired teen before watching the same brown-haired chuunin walk down a nearby alleyway. He quickly hurried after him only to find the brown haired teen waiting there for him. There was a moment of silence before the figure pulled down their hood, revealing a head of spiky blonde hair. Naruto had let his hair grow out a lot since he had started in the academy; the result was longer, thinner spikes that might have given him an almost Bishounen appearance when combined with his lithe frame and almost constantly narrowed eyes.

"You continue to amaze me with your acting skills Dami." A Chakra thread attached to his hand twitched and suddenly the chuunin burst into smoke, revealing nothing more than a man-sized puppet. Naruto had long ago refined a version of Dami into what stood before him today; shaving him back, smoothing out his body, articulating more joints and adding many compartments for general storage. The puppet lacked any defining features like a face and had lost many of its combat capabilities with the change but Naruto used him more for information gathering.

"Or perhaps, it is people's stupidity that amazes me…" Naruto shrugged, unfurling a scroll from one of his many pockets before using it to quickly seal his puppet away. Taking out a notebook he quickly jotted down what he had learned that night from the few other places he had visited. It was a good thing he had decided to use puppets instead of going himself or he would have been quite drunk at this point. Cross-referencing what he had learned with the information he already had he grinned in satisfaction.

"Seems the introduction was unnecessary Sensei; I think I know all I need to." Absently he swung a small bell out of his pocket and listened to it tinkle gently. "More importantly; I know the trick behind this 'test' of yours."

There was no way he was being sent back to the academy.

* * *

The next day when the three Genin arrived at their pre-determined time only two of them were hungry from missing breakfast. All three looked tired from the early hour; but then, Naruto always looked tired so it didn't really count. However Sakura and Sasuke were slightly surprised when Naruto casually walked up to the meeting point on a small red bridge carrying a small stack of books. When he sat down on one of the bridge's wooden railings and began reading through the first at a surprising pace it took Sakura almost ten minutes before she finally commented.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" The blonde didn't even look up from his book, an interesting if not rather stylised account of the Sannin's battle against Hanzo of the Salamander.

"Passing the time until Sensei arrives; I dislike not making the most of my time." Sakura raised her eyebrow at the blonde and looked down at the small stack of books; it would take her a good few hours to get through them back to back if she never stopped and read in a hurry. Sasuke looked over from where he was leaning against the railing, mildly interested at hearing the blonde say more than he had in the past few months.

"How long do you expect to wait?" Naruto simply smirked beneath his hood, letting out a small breath of a laugh but didn't give an answer, making Sasuke's eye twitch in annoyance. However before he could comment both his and Sakura's stomachs let out simultaneous growls causing him to grumble and her to go bright pink from embarrassment.

"You two should go get something to eat while you can." Both of his teammates looked at the young puppeteer oddly but it was Sakura who spoke.

"But Sensei told us not to." Again Naruto never looked up from his book; in fact at that moment he quite calmly licked his thumb and used it to turn the page.

"Sensei _advised _us not to eat; there is a difference; unless you believe you will be sick from a mere test." Seeing Sasuke rise to the bait Naruto hid his smirk as the Uchiha pushed off the railing.

"Unless you have food in those pockets of yours I don't think we'll have time to just walk off and get breakfast." Naruto shrugged noncommittally, flipping the page again; Sakura was actually a bit surprised by the rate he was reading. He often read books in class, which the instructors ignored for some reason, but never at this pace; it seemed he was at least keeping an ear on the lessons.

"You might be surprised; but I figured you'd say as much." Still reading he quickly withdrew two wrapped sandwiches from his jacket and threw them at his teammates. Sakura fumbled with hers a moment before looking at it, her stomach rumbling its own two cents.

"But Sensei said-" She was surprised as Naruto suddenly cut her off by raising his hands, flapping them like a mouth.

"But Sensei said…" Both she and Sasuke blinked at the perfect impersonation of Sakura's voice, down to the slight whine and pitch. Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that, wondering at this new piece of information about the blonde enigma.

"I didn't know you could impersonate people's voices." He waited for Naruto's reply only to turn as a voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

"Oh I don't know Sasuke-kun, there might be a lot you don't know about Naruto." Sasuke swivelled at the sound of Kakashi's voice only to see thin air behind him; it made him frown and look about for a bit before seeing Naruto smirk. "What are you looking for Sasuke-kun?" This time Kakashi's voice came from Naruto and Sasuke knew he had been fooled.

"So you can throw your voice too." Naruto shrugged.

"Stop pestering Naruto-kun Sasuke!" Sasuke blanched as he turned to Sakura only to see the girl looking at Naruto in surprise; her face bright red.

"Stop impersonating me Naruto-baka!" Naruto snickered into his book; it was just too much fun messing with his teammates. Eventually though they all settled down a bit; Sakura and Sasuke ate their sandwiches while Naruto read and over the next two hours they amused themselves as best they could. Occasionally Naruto would mess with them a bit with his ventriloquism, all the while reading book after book until finally he was almost finished his last one.

"Why hello my cute little graduates." Kakashi was a little surprised when he appeared on the bridge and greeted the teens only for none of them to react. Sakura was lazily leaning over the railing and watching the fish swim down the river it bridged.

"We're not falling for it again Naruto-baka." She looked up to berate him only for her eyes to go wide as saucers as she spotted their Sensei, for real this time. "Oh Sensei!" Suddenly she remembered how long she had been waiting. "You're late!" Over on the other side of the bridge Naruto snapped his book closed with mild irritation, he had only a few more pages; couldn't Kakashi have been a little later?

"Morning Sensei." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the nonchalant greeting but didn't read too much into it. When he looked at Sasuke the boy just grunted and pushed off the railing.

"Yes well, I think it's time to get started on your test." With that he pulled out two bells from a pouch on his hip, a little unnerved by the sudden smirk on Naruto's features.

* * *

"So you all understand?" Seeing the three quick nods from his genin at his explanation, Kakashi smiled, quickly tying the two bells to his waist where they jingled quietly. "Good, then you have until midday." He produced a small stop clock and set it on a nearby tree stump. "Great, then let's… begin." Instantly Sakura and Sasuke vanished into the bushes leaving Naruto and Kakashi alone in the middle of the training ground. The older Jounin quirked his head at the blonde with a bemused expression in his eye.

"You know, you aren't exactly winning any points for stealth." His eye was momentarily drawn to where he thought he saw a tiny streak of blue light but ignored it for the moment as Naruto spoke.

"I don't need to hide, I already have a bell." Kakashi's eye widened as he looked down at his side only to narrow it in confusion; both bells were still there. However when he turned he saw Naruto holding up an identical bell he had produced from his jacket, causing the silver-haired man' brow to quirk.

"Are you in the habit of carrying around bells with you everywhere you go? It's not very stealthy for a Shinobi." Naruto shrugged and Kakashi quickly saw a conversation wouldn't be going anywhere. "Well that isn't the point of the exercise I'm afraid, no matter how unorthodox it might be; you have to get one of the two bells at my side." Naruto frowned as he casually threw the bell onto the ground with a small sigh.

"I figured it wouldn't be so easy." Just as Kakashi was about to move in and engage the boy in a bit of Taijutsu… for motivation of course, his body went up in a cloud of smoke that was tell-tale of the substitution to Kakashi's trained eye. However it was fairly inefficient given the large cloud of white smoke it produced. Soon enough though it was apparent that it was deliberate as when the smoke cleared all Kakashi saw was a hole in the ground, roughly as wide as a man, and the tip of something long and slender disappearing within. Seeing that put the masked Jounin on guard; it made him think that perhaps he should have given the academy reports a bit more attention.

For a few minutes that felt much longer than they were Kakashi stayed in that same position, slightly confused by his student's lack of aggressive action. All the while he kept an eye on the ground, wary for whatever had burrowed underneath the soil after that substitution; perhaps a summon? No, Kakashi quickly shook his head of that; it was absurd to think that a fresh genin not only had a summoning contract but could actually summon something larger than a puppy. For a moment he was tempted to lift his headband; it would be easy enough to see what was hiding beneath him then. However that would be acknowledging an academy student to be at a level even a strong chuunin hadn't pushed him too.

His lone eye widened slightly as he noticed his own shadow becoming just slightly larger, looking up in time to catch the glint of a kunai, just shrouded by the light of the midday-sun. He caught the extended arm easily enough and brought his knee up to counter the follow up kick, throwing his attacker over his shoulder only to be surprised to see Sasuke crouched in a three point stance.

"You shouldn't be so focused on me Sensei." Kakashi's ears twitched, forcing him to turn and see a small hail of glinting shuriken barrelling towards him. He caught one with ease and used it to bat away the others only to wince as the muscles in his hand suddenly locked up. In his haste and complacency he had missed the slight purplish-hue of poison lacing the shuriken; at least they had the intent to kill down. He turned as Sasuke went on the offensive again, using the slight advantage of Kakashi's temporarily paralysed hand to almost scrape the bells in a brief exchange of fists.

"Shannaro!" What he definitely wasn't expecting was, as he was locked in a brief bout with Sasuke, for Sakura to suddenly appear from the trees behind him, peppering the two combatants with as accurate kunai throws as she was able. However it was painfully obvious she had only ever practised against stationary targets as all it took was maneuvering Sasuke between him and the pinkette to get the Uchiha to break off the attack or risk being perforated. It was almost a shame, the two displayed such a good attempt at teamwork; now if only Naruto would-

Of course as the dark-haired boy jumped back Kakashi only caught his smirk at the last moment before his lone eye widened at the small detail he was forgetting. Suddenly something burst right from the earth behind him and as Kakashi turned to what he expected would be Naruto, his shock only grew. What had appeared could certainly not be considered human, even if it's top half was undeniably female. More alarmingly though the _thing _just seemed to open up all of a sudden, releasing veritable hail of kunai in every direction, but most focused on Kakashi.

In his shock at the _thing's _sudden appearance and, well… its appearance, Kakashi could only do his best to weave between the obviously poisoned kunai. To his shock though he heard the tell-tale sound of steel slicing through a cord and sure enough from the corner of his eye he spotted the two shiny bells flying away from him. As he tried to go for them though something long and thick whipped out at him, forcing him to bring up a guard. As he was thrown across the clearing with surprising force… force a Genin shouldn't be able to muster of their own, he was able to see the bells land somewhere around where the genin had started the exam.

"Looks like we win Sensei." As he landed in a three-point crouch in the middle of the field Naruto took that as his cue to drop down from a nearby tree where he had been hiding. He joined Sasuke and Sakura as they walked over to where the bells had fallen, making Kakashi give the three genin an eye-smile.

"Oh really, but what are you guys going to do now? After all there are only two bells." However Naruto simply gave the man what could almost be considered a genuinely confused expression as he crouched down and picked up the bells… all three of them.

"What are you talking about Sensei; there's enough here for all three of us." To demonstrate he tossed one to Sasuke before doing the same for Sakura. At that Kakashi blinked, before remembering the bell Naruto had so casually tossed away at the start of the exam. Sure Kakashi could call the blonde out on it and say only two of them could pass, but then he'd just be forcing the pretence of the test and not acknowledging it's subtext; not to mention the bells were all generically identical so there was no way to be certain which were his two, and to try was to essentially pick favorites on the team and again destroy the subtext of this test.

"Well what can I say you three?" He let out a small sigh before giving them all one of his best eye-smiles… which were damn near identical to all his other eye-smiles. There was only so much emotion you could convey with only a quarter of your face revealed. "You pass!" At that both Naruto and Sasuke let out a satisfied smirk and Sakura did a small dance of excitement; it warmed Kakashi's heart to see how happy it all made them. However soon enough he turned his attention back onto the _thing _now slithering back to Naruto's side.

Now that he had a better look at it and wasn't trying to defend himself against a swarm of poisoned weapons Kakashi realised quickly enough that it was a puppet. It was a little disturbing though, with the upper torso of a woman, her hair done up in long dreads, with the lower half of a giant snake that almost reminded him of something he might see in training ground forty-four. Its eyes were completely whited out giving it a cold, emotionless look; however its mouth revealed a set of long, sharp teeth that gave it a vicious smile when Naruto was so inclined to make it do so. Funnily enough, a puppeteer was one of the few ninja professions Kakashi could never have claimed to have fought against; no, that would have been his father.

"Naruto, just what is that thing?" Now that their excitement had worn off both Sasuke and Sakura were looking at the puppet warily as well. Naruto on the other hand was smiling at it, patting the mostly wooden construct on the back fondly.

"You like her? I call her Ramia." Kakashi just chuckled nervously at the boy; who was he to belittle his… hobbies? He really, really regretted not reading those academy reports now.

"Well okay then, as of today we're team Kakashi." Man that felt strange to say. "I guess we'll meet back here tomorrow morning at the same time then for training and missions." He didn't miss the excited gleam entering all his students' eyes at the mention of missions; the reality, he figured, would be quite the surprise. "Ja ne." With that he gave a friendly wave before vanishing in a puff of smoke, however not before he gave a little thought to their performance today. It was a rather remarkable display of teamwork for a new team… maybe he had finally struck lucky.

* * *

_Naruto sighed as he appeared in the treeline after a successful substitution; he had no idea how fast the Jounin would be so he couldn't know if he would get away in time, but he had. A satisfied smirk lit up his face before he made a note of the position he had thrown the bell down. Making sure he had it in his memory he darted off from the tree-branch, all the while manipulating Ramia into place so that she would be ready to pounce at the right time. He'd likely waste all of the kunai he had stored in her body but, well… Kakashi _had _told them to aim to kill._

_It didn't take him all that long to find Sasuke, although the boy seemed slightly startled by his sudden appearance; it was remarkable how few people thought to look up when they in turn were looking down on someone._

"_What do you want Naruto?" The blonde just grinned as he hopped down onto the branch with the Uchiha, keeping a wary eye on Kakashi from the vantage point. It obviously hadn't been long enough for the man to try something to lure them out; good._

"_I'm here with a proposition." Sasuke's eyebrow rose in intrigue but he said nothing. "Let me guess your plan; you were going to wait until either me or Sakura attacked Kakashi then use the opening to try and make a dash at the bells, right?" Sasuke's face gave nothing away but he didn't deny it either, making Naruto smirk. "How about instead you and Sakura create the distraction? Your Taijutsu would be much better for keeping Kakashi busy while Sakura lowers his guard; I'll be there to swipe the bells when he least expects it." And boy would the Jounin not expect him._

"_And then what?" Naruto shrugged casually._

"_You and I split the bells of course; we can both see that Sakura is the weak link here and would only hold us back." Sasuke snorted quietly, not wanted to give away their position._

"_Says the dead-last." Naruto gave the Uchiha a dead-pan stare for a moment._

"_Please Sasuke, we both know I'm as much a dead-last as Shikamaru is." Sasuke's brow quirked at the comparison but after a moment of consideration he finally nodded._

"_Fine; I'll go along with it for now. If you fail I'll always have an opportunity to go for the bells myself." Never let it be said Sasuke couldn't acquiesce to a better plan with humility. Naruto just patted him on the back with a bright smile._

"_That's the spirit!" And with that he vanished into the surrounding forestry again, leaving Sasuke alone to come up with a way of getting the drop on his vastly superior opponent._

* * *

_Sakura nervously bit her thumb as she lay down under a bush, hoping that one of her teammates would attack their Sensei soon. The thought of going up against a Jounin was daunting, even if she believed Sasuke would find some way of getting the bells. As she wracked her brain for some way to be of assistance Naruto appeared behind her, unable to resist the opportunity to scare his teammate._

"_Hey Sakura." The girl would have let out a shriek of surprise if, in the same movement, Naruto hadn't covered her mouth. "Quiet; remember? We're trying _not _to alert Sensei to our position." After she had given a disgruntled nod to show she understood Naruto released her._

"_What are you doing here Naruto-baka?" Naruto internally sighed at what he was about to do before allowing a small frown to play over his features._

"_I came to tell you that… I understand." Sakura blinked at that, not quite understanding what the blonde meant herself. "I get that at the end of this, only two of us will become a team and…" He bit his lip, looking away for a moment. "…and I don't want to get in between you two." Sakura blinked owlishly at the suddenly bashful boy in front of her; had Naruto always been like this beneath that hood?_

"_W-What do you mean?" Naruto smiled sincerely, or it at least looked that way._

"_I don't want to get between you and Sasuke; I'd felt terrible if I ended up on a team with him knowing that you were left behind, unable to pursue your love. Not to mention things would only be awkward if it was us two a team… alone." A little pink entered Sakura's cheeks at the suggestion; with his hood down and his messy hair falling about his head like that Naruto looked almost… cute._

"_S-So what?" Her voice was slightly meeker than she would have liked it to be and with a start she realised she could hear the blood pumping in her ears. Naruto just gave another small smile as he began to back away._

"_I already talked to Sasuke about it and we came up with a plan; at the end… you two will get the bells." He chuckled sheepishly as he began to walk away deeper into the forest. "All you would need to do is provide a bit of support with kunai or shuriken when you see Sasuke fight Kakashi." He ran a hand through his hair almost bashfully, making the long spikes sway. "I guess another year of the academy wouldn't be too bad." With that he took off, leaving a startled and red-faced Sakura behind, her eyes widened._

_A few moments later and he appeared on a branch that gave him a good overview of the training ground, still quietly chuckling under his breath. His teammates were going to be so annoyed when he realised he had played them… ah, maybe they'd be okay after they pass. Still; their reactions would be priceless._

* * *

Naruto almost felt like skipping home; the feeling of perfectly executing a plan like that was indescribable. He had Ramia safely sealed away in her large scroll, about the size of his forearm, which was concealed in a pocket on the back of his vest, hidden by his jacket. He always had reservations about using scrolls to carry his puppets as if the scroll got damaged anything within became irretrievable. However there were no better options so Naruto was forced to learn a bit of the art in order to not have to carry around great big puppets that, more-often than not, were larger than he was.

Ramia for instance was generally about seven feet tall when reared up but she was almost twenty feet in length from head to tail, easily enough to constrict a man… or hide a multitude of weapons. She was currently Naruto's favourite puppet and likely the one he would be using in combat for the foreseeable future, until a better idea came around. Dami was certainly useful for what it was, a glorified mannequin, but he held no real combat capabilities anymore. Ramia on the other hand was built purely for that purpose, with every aspect created so she would be as efficient a fighter as possible. But then, Naruto conformed to an ideal of change; if a better idea came along or he thought of a more efficient system, there were always opportunities to change things.

He found himself humming a nonsensical tune as he walked into apartment, taking a moment to breathe in the heady aroma of brewing poisons, fresh wood and various animal scents. With an uncharacteristic smile he gently tapped the glass of a small habitat-box he had built, watching as what at first appeared to be a long, thick stick slowly woke up and reared its head, revealing a long grass snake.

"Afternoon Hisu, feeling hungry?" The snake lazily raised its head at the blonde, flickering its tongue for a few moments before laying back down to sleep. "I guess not…" Naruto shrugged as he went about unsealing Ramia; he didn't like to keep his puppets in their scrolls for very long. Hisu, as uninspired as his name was, actually served as the inspiration for Ramia; that, and controlling a puppet's legs was surprisingly hard. However his first few attempts at creating a human-sized snake puppet had been painfully ineffective. The skeleton of a normal snake just wasn't designed for the load the larger size presented.

He still remembered how he had gone about fixing that.

* * *

_A younger Naruto, only eleven years old, walked into the Dangoya cautiously. He had been going around the village, asking a few chuunin and Jounin where he might find a giant snake. He needed something that already existed to base his latest puppet off. However for whatever reason everybody he had asked pointed him to this place with a nervous expression. As sceptical as he was that a simple Dango hut would hold the answers he was looking for, he decided to go all the same. Unfortunately for him the place was almost barren considering the lunch rush was over almost an hour ago; the only one there was the owner and a purple-haired Kunoichi. Sighing Naruto just decided to get this over with._

"_Hey." Anko looked up from her food and Sake, quirking an eyebrow at the kid looking back at her; surprisingly it was actually at _her _and not her mesh-covered chest._

"_What do you want Gaki?" Naruto looked about with a small sigh._

"_I asked a few people and they said this was the place to go if I wanted to find a giant snake." Anko's brow shot up in amusement as her eyes twinkled in time with the sadistic grin on her lips._

"_Oh really; and what would a little runt like you be looking for such a dangerous creature?" Naruto's eyes narrowed at the patronising tone._

"_What does it matter to you, you exhibitionist?" Anko's eye twitched and a large tick mark appeared over her eye; at least the kid had guts; but then her grin became more sadistic._

"_Well, you came to the right place. You wanna know where to find giant snakes?" She fumbled about in her pockets for a moment and Naruto had to wonder how she kept anything with such skimpy clothing. Finally though she emerged with a pen and paper and began jotting a rough, hasty map that was barely legible. "Here, go to this training ground; you'll find all the giant animals your heart could want." Naruto looked at the almost childish map sceptically for a few moments before shrugging and grabbing it, much to Anko's joy._

_Almost an hour later the woman emerged from the Dangoya, still snacking on her favourite treat with a satisfied smile. Briefly her lips quirked down, feeling a bit of worry for the young kid she had sent into a very dangerous place purely out of irritation. However just as she was resolving to go and find him, or what was left of him, she heard a ruckus down the street. A few civilians were whispering to themselves and with a start Anko quickly realised why._

_The kid was back, only he wasn't alone anymore; somehow he was dragging a snake, longer than twice Anko's height, down the street by the tail. He looked to be struggling with it but just about managing; there were a few rips in his clothes but that didn't seem to dissuade from the excited grin on his lips. As he passed by he looked up at Anko and gave her a quick salute._

"_Thanks Lady, that place is great." And without another word Naruto kept on dragging the snake back to his apartment. Anko's jaw wasn't working for the moment and she was only snapped out of it when one of the dumplings on her skewer slid off and bounced on the ground._

* * *

Naruto had meant what he said; training ground forty-four had turned out to not only be a massive boon to his puppeteering, what with all the giant examples of animals it held, but also managed to launch his training in poisons forward by leaps and bounds. In gratitude to the exhibitionist woman who pointed him in the right direction he had created Ramia, with the top half of a woman and the bottom half of a snake. Hell, if people were more focused on his puppet's top half than what was firing out its lower half then all the better.

He'd have to thank that crazy Dango lady one day.


	4. Twining a thicker cable

**Hmmm... nope; still don't.**

* * *

**Plucking strings**

_"Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides." - Lao Tzu_

* * *

The air outside of Konoha wasn't quite what Naruto had expected; it was very… plain. Growing up in a city environment his entire life, with the hustle and bustle of daily life flowing around him Naruto had always imagined the outside world to be this great, open, fresh new world. He had felt like Training Ground Forty-Four was the first step in that direction. Now though, walking along the open dirt path in the direction of Nami no Kuni he could only be disappointed by the plainness of it all. True he had spotted a few plants he had never seen before and it had excited him for a while but now he was just back to the monotony of walking along in silence.

They were here because after around a month of pointless chores of missions and what their esteemed Sensei dictated as 'training', Kakashi had finally deigned to give the group a C-rank. It was a hesitant decision as well, but not one that he could argue with; after all the man seemed to value teamwork above all else and while Naruto couldn't say what Team 7 had was true teamwork; they could certainly act as a cohesive unit when necessary.

It had been when he first got into reading that Naruto realised that the characterisation he saw applied in his action novels could very easily be translated over to real life. People had quirks and mannerisms that genuinely affected how they thought about things. They had traits that could be counted on to influence decisions or choices they made. All it took was a slight push in one direction or a tug in the other and Naruto could subtly nudge people in the right direction.

Of course this worked better on some than on others; for instance Kakashi was a naturally cautious man who was very guarded about his own emotions. This made it very difficult to ascertain what trait he had to exploit and even more difficult to manipulate them at all. Likewise the Hokage's every action and sentence was careful measured before he said or did anything, as was only proper of a Shinobi that had reached his age. Fresh Genin straight out of the academy on the other hand? That was child's play.

Sasuke was simplicity itself to twist and turn any which way Naruto pleased; it was as if he could see the little blue threads into the boy's mind. Make anything a challenge or question the boy's abilities in an area and the young Uchiha would be on it faster than Tora on a ball of catnip laced with a sleeping drug… long story. Likewise allow the boy to assume what he believed to be a leading role and he would cruise along a set direction without stopping until he either came across an obstacle or required more 'guidance'. He was stubborn like that.

Sakura was an even easier case, simpler than simplicity itself if you will. All Naruto had to do was convince her that something was all for the benefit of Sasuke, or her and Sasuke's future, or would help her get Sasuke to notice her. Heck she'd jump off a cliff if she was told it was going to help her along those lines. This Sasuke-related gullibility was almost pitiable in a way and for a long while Naruto had considered trying to guide her away from that path. Of course he didn't because her current state of mind was too damn convenient but that didn't mean he hadn't set up measures just in case. Sakura was now coming along quite promisingly in medical Ninjutsu; or at least the bare basics of it.

Really, show the girl some applicable use of her powerful mind, near perfect Chakra control and natural instinct to avoid conflict, at least conflict she didn't start, and Naruto was surprised Kakashi hadn't already done it. Quite honestly with Chakra control that refined Sakura could go on to do anything she pleased from Ninjutsu to Genjutsu. However it was her weak body and quite cowardly nature that left these paths fairly devoid of a hopeful future. It did help that every time Naruto gave a slight compliment on her progress Sasuke would look over with that same bland look he always did.

Of course Sakura would take this to mean that Sasuke was interested in what she was doing, which in turn would push her harder. This was good as Naruto's own control, while refined, was not quite at the level of medical Ninjutsu… although it was a thought. However the real story, that was obvious if you weren't obsessed with the boy, was that Sasuke was jealous. The Uchiha hated seeing people his own age surpass him in something, even if it was something he himself had no interest in. He believed he had to be the best at everything, even the things he didn't want to be the best at. It was the worst, but most exploitable form of a superiority complex.

The most hilarious thing about it all though? Kakashi knew what he was doing. Oh the Jounin may never say anything directly beyond a disapproving look but it was there, in his lazy half-lidded eye. Honestly Naruto didn't understand his problem; under normal circumstances Team Seven would be a horrific mess of a team with two quiet loners that were powerful in their own ways and a love-stuck fan-girl with no mind of her own. It was Kakashi's job to make them a true cohesive unit, not merely three people assigned to one job together, and yet he seemed determined to simply go through the motions of being a Sensei and nothing more. So Naruto decided if Kakashi wasn't going to take the initiative to mould them into a workable unit then he'd take the reins from him.

That didn't stop the silver-haired man from trying to undo all of Naruto's machinations, but the man just didn't have the heart to be that manipulative to his Genin. He would offer a counter argument or opinion to the two every now and then but Sasuke's naturally stubborn nature and one-track mind always kept him on the first course set. Then naturally Sakura would follow him, likely into the very pits of Naraka; although the girl did have a rather large stubborn streak of her own; likely from the constant praise she received in the Academy. Obviously she wasn't used to people criticising her or second-guessing herself.

Naruto simply shrugged to himself internally; he personally was rather fond of the arrangement. His plan to gain a good sensei hadn't really gone anywhere considering Kakashi's reluctance to teach them anything that seemed remotely worthwhile. However that just meant little had changed since the Academy; everything Naruto had learned about puppetry was self-taught so why would his time as a Genin be any different? And there, he came full circle in his thoughts back to disappointment.

"Uhh, is that kid okay? He's been pretty… quiet." Tazuna, the old bridge-builder they were assigned to escort back to his home nation, leaned across and whispered to Sakura in a tone he hoped the young blonde couldn't hear. He may have initially been sceptical about three kids guarding him, but he still didn't want to upset a Shinobi; he'd heard stories. Plus there was this unsettling feeling radiating from the boy as he walked, as if everything going on around him was just background noise to a much greater picture only he could see. It was a hard feeling to describe but every time those cold, sleep-deprived eyes passed over him Tazuna felt a small shiver run the length of his spine.

"Oh Naruto; he's just ah… well." Sakura blinked before frowning, looking across at the young blonde trailing behind them in the rear position, a few steps in front of Kakashi. Sasuke was taking point while Sakura walked next to the client; Kakashi had opted for a more lax formation due to the low level of the mission. "He's well; Naruto's always like this." She rubbed the back of her head and smiled up at the old man in a way she hoped was cute; she was working on that smile for Sasuke after all. "You get used to it." Tazuna nodded slowly, not entirely convinced as he felt Naruto's detatched gaze slide right past him again.

"Sure… well, you seem pretty level-headed at least. Be honest; are you guys powerful? Can you guys protect me?" Sakura seemed ready to answer, no doubt lauding Sasuke as she had been for what seemed like the entire trip so far, before Kakashi butted in from the back.

"I've already assured you client-san, my genin can handle bandits and the like; that's all we're likely to expect on a simply C-rank." Sakura blinked before nodding happily; bandits, she could deal with that. Just normal people without Chakra; plus Sasuke would be there to protect her. And with that the girl's gaze drifted off into her own fantasies leaving a sighing Tazuna and an amused Kakashi looking on.

The entire group were fairly lost in their own thoughts, save Kakashi who kept his single eye wandering around; so when they passed a suspiciously wet puddle in the middle of the path only the silver-haired cyclops noticed. That was why when two figures melted out of their Genjutsu, wrapping up Kakashi in a long chain composed entirely of Shuriken strung together, their surprise was apparent.

"Kakashi-Sen-!" Sakura's cry was cut off though when the two assailants pulled the chain taught, sending Kakashi's body into three separate bloody chunks. The Pinkette immediately froze at the sight, her body going rigid and her mouth dry; the scream died in her throat. She couldn't even lift a hand to warn Naruto as the two darted forward again, wrapping up the surprised blonde and pulling a similar manoeuvre. However when everyone expected the wet squelch of flesh being cleaved, they were confused to hear the dull thud of metal embedding in wood. Even the two assailants looked at the boy in shock, at least until they saw him smirk at them.

"Sasuke, now!" With a poof of smoke the Naruto in front of everybody transformed into the smooth wooden form of Dami. Sasuke appeared above it, kunai in hand and ready to launch at one of the assailants; now easily identifiable as Kiragakure Ninja from their headbands. However as the two moved to separate and dodge the assault they found themselves stuck; looking back they saw what they first assumed to be some kind of convoluted substitution actually holding the chain. The articulated fingers of the puppet kept a tight hold of the shurikens, forcing the two to release it from the attaching gauntlets to be free.

"Damn brats; what the hell's a puppeteer doing here?" One of Sasuke's kunai managed to clip one of the missing-nin on the arm and Sasuke immediately rushed to pressure him, keeping the man busy with an impressive bout of Taijutsu, all the while avoiding the vicious-looking gauntlet. The other attacker turned to look for where Naruto was hiding only to suddenly move out the way as Dami went on the offense. The puppet had gathered up the shuriken chain and was whipping it out at the man who was forced to use his gauntlet to avoid it.

However it quickly became apparent Dami was not a puppet well-suited for combat as the attacker managed to duck under a swipe of the chain and lunge forward, cleaving off a whole arm at the elbow and forcing Dami to drop the chain. However his confidence that the mannequin's arm was no longer a threat was his undoing; in a smooth motion Dami raised up the stump of its arm and with a quiet pneumatic hiss fired a single kunai. It impacted with an unsettlingly wet squelch right into the man's eye and just like that the man died. Dami may not have been purposefully built for combat but a Shinobi's paranoia was a strong thing.

A few meters away and Sasuke was still embroiled in a rather intense Taijutsu fight; sweat ran down his forehead from the number of times he was force to veer off or get poisoned by the gauntlet. However he eventually managed to get enough breathing room to flash through hand seals. His opponent dodged out of the way of the telegraphed fireball but his surprise at a Genin managing such a feat kept his mind occupied long enough he never saw the knee impact with his temple.

The entire fight was over in under thirty seconds; it was quick, it was intense and it was brutal. However afterwards there was a strange calm as the three Genin surveyed the battlefield. Naruto dropped out of the tree he had been hiding in, a rather blank look on his face as he stared at the man quietly bleeding out on the floor, dead long before he even hit the ground.

"Kakashi-Sensei; you're okay!" Naruto didn't even look up as his Sensei emerged from the surrounding forestry. He had seen the man's substitution; it was what tipped him off to perform one of his own.

"Of course; you don't think an attack like that could get me do you?" No, Naruto didn't look; he just stared at the slowly paling form of the man lying on the ground. This was the first human he had ever killed, indirectly through a puppet or not, and he wasn't sure what he should be feeling. It struck him as odd that he would even think about it; after all this was supposed to be traumatic right? He had taken away the life of another living, sentient being; the time he would have lived was gone because Naruto had the capability to take it away… and had.

Then why did he feel… nothing? Not a flicker of emotion entered his heart; his eyes simply stared with the same clinical detachment that he might have had when looking at a dead animal on his workshop table. His eyes picked up the way his joints placed themselves when he fell, the way the blood dripped slowly and steadily from the wound, the way the remaining eye hadn't quite closed so he could still see the widened pupil, perpetually locked in shock.

"Naruto?" Naruto started as Kakashi lay a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" The blonde blinked once before his usual bored look returned to his eyes; he quickly shrugged off Kakashi's hand but still found himself unable to tear his gaze away from where the man lay before him. Why did he feel so little? Was this normal? Was he normal?

"I'm fine." Good, there was no catch in his voice; he was confused enough already without tipping off his Sensei that something felt wrong.

"You did what you had to Naruto; that's okay you know." Naruto finally looked away from the body, a scowl alighting on his features for a fraction of a second.

"I know; I said I'm fine." Kakashi hesitated before quickly patting the top of Naruto's hood, disliking how it took away his pleasure of ruffling his Genin's hair.

"Well, I'm here if you need to talk Naruto; a Shinobi's first kill can be hard." Naruto's eyes just narrowed as he continued to look anywhere but at the body on the ground. It wasn't because it disgusted him, or because it brought up nasty emotions; he just thought that if he looked at it again he might not be able to look away this time. He needed something to take his mind off it.

"They had bounties didn't they?" Kakashi blinked in surprise as he looked down at the young blonde who seemed to have practically forced that out.

"Huh?" Naruto's eye twitched as he pointed at the dead body without looking at it.

"Bounties, they're missing-nin after all; the Demon brother's if I remember right." Kakashi hesitated before a small smile crept onto his lips; every Shinobi had their coping mechanisms he supposed.

"You keep up to date with the Bingo books?" Naruto smirked under his hood, the expression hidden by the shadows.

"Why so surprised? You gave me my first after all." Kakashi's smile softened slightly at that.

"You remembered?" Naruto scoffed lightly.

"Please, there are no other Shinobi with your stupid hair; I was young, not blind." Kakashi chuckled lightly, ignoring the comment about his hair.

"You never said anything." Naruto smirked again, feeling rather awkward just standing around having a stupid sentimental talk like this. It was a rather odd situation what with the dead and unconscious bodies nearby.

"Neither did you." Kakashi chuckled again and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Touché; although to be fair I had hoped to inspire you with a goal; I never imagined you would pick puppeteering." Naruto shrugged lightly as he took a step away from the dead body; Kakashi took the hint quickly enough. "But no; even if these two have bounties it's too long a walk to the nearest office; it would count as a deviation from the mission and I don't have a scroll to seal them into." Naruto narrowed his eyes at that; he didn't have sealing scrolls able to carry bodies; they were more complex than ones able to hold puppets. It was something he was going to have to carry around from now on; just for preparations sake.

"No, the best we can do right now is send a message back to Konoha to pick them up." Kakashi continued, turning towards Tazuna. "But in the meantime Client-san, I think we need to have a little talk about assigning the correct rank to a mission; don't you agree?" Tazuna gulped as he suddenly felt rather uncomfortable under that single black eye's gaze.

* * *

Despite Kakashi's implications that the mission might end there, mostly as empty threats to Tazuna, they continued on their journey to Nami no Kuni. It was inevitable really; Sasuke would never back down from something like this, the first real challenge outside the safety of the village where he could push his limits. Sakura was like a sheep following her shepherd and agreed as soon as she knew Sasuke wanted to continue, if not with slight hesitance. Kakashi would never so easily abandon someone like Tazuna, especially after the man's rather sickening sob story; the Jounin's catch phrase was basically never abandoning friends.

As for Naruto well, the young Puppeteer wasn't giving up this chance for anything. This was his first trip to another town, another nation; a place outside of his home. It was his first opportunity to make connections, to meet people, to begin a network. If there was one thing Akasuna no Sasori was famous, or infamous for besides his puppeteering, it was the expansive spy network he was purported to have about the entirety of the Elemental Nations. Naruto had been dying to start one of his own for years and this was his chance, in a new place that didn't know him, where his existence was a blank slate.

Of course he had no idea how one went about setting up a spy network but then, he once had no idea how to be a puppeteer; it would be a trial and error affair like everything else. The important thing was the opportunity and, in an oppressed place like Nami that would soon be indebted to their team if they succeeded, the opportunity was like no other. There was also a part of him that was excited about that confrontation back there and longed for more; that was the part he tried to ignore as childish impulsiveness.

After said encounter though the blonde was far more wary of his surroundings, not wanting another attacker to get the drop on them. That was why when Kakashi gave the command to drop he did so almost immediately, just as a massive spinning blade buzzed overhead through the mist. It slammed into a nearby tree and it was a miracle the seven-foot cleaver didn't slice right through it. Instead a large, muscled man, more imposing than Kakashi's scrawny figure, appeared on the blade, body turned away from them.

"Well well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, Nuke-nin from the Mist village." Kakashi stepped forward, his posture giving nothing away as he casually leaned on one foot. However before he allowed any of his Genin to do anything rash he subtly raised a hand. "Stay out of this one kids, Zabuza's in a whole other league than those chuunin you fought before." However as he turned his visible eye widened when he noticed a distinctive lack of bright blonde hair. "Naruto?" A loud chortle came from up in the tree where the large shirtless man had turned his whole body to face them.

"What amazing genin you have there Sharingan no Kakashi." Behind the two, Sasuke's eyes widened in visible surprise, his hands tightening around the kunai he was holding. "Running at the very first sign of a superior opponent; smart, but cowardly." Kakashi frowned; Naruto wasn't the type to simply run for no other reason than to escape, he would have a plan of some kind. But then, how did a genin, no matter how prodigious, hope to help in a battle between two seasoned Jounin?

"Sasuke, Sakura, stay back and protect the bridge-builder; don't get involved." With that said Kakashi slipped his lopsided headband up, revealing the fully matured Sharingan in his left eye.

"Ahh, it seems I get to see the Sharingan in action; maybe I should feel honoured." Zabuza's gruff voice cut in as mist began to draw in toward the clearing, lowering everyone's field of view. Kakashi couldn't waste any more time though; he didn't know what Naruto was doing, or if Zabuza had accomplices. He had to act soon. "Hmm, I didn't think you would be so hasty to act Kakashi." It all happened in a split second to the Genin, suddenly Kakashi was up next to Zabuza, standing on the blade as the two locked kunai. Sparks flew as they tested their strengths and while Zabuza was physically superior, Kaksashi's eye could evaluate every muscle twitch and compensate accordingly.

However in a moment that reeked of gruelling training Zabuza kicked his sword out from under him, spinning the blade with nothing but his foot until he caught it in his hands. Far from being caught unawares Kakashi bounced back off the tree to avoid the following swipe across his mid-section that would have easily bisected him. In mid-air he twisted, catching his foot on the hilt of the blade and de-stabilising Zabuza before completing the motion and scissor-kicking the Kiri Jounin in the chest. However with an underwhelming squelch his foot passed through nothing but water as Zabuza quickly substituted himself further into the forest.

Kakashi didn't pass up on the opportunity to move the fight farther from his genin and immediately pursued. He easily caught up to the Nuke-nin, Konoha Shinobi were unsurpassed in the trees, and so their fight was on again. Their arms and legs moved in flurries of motion, sparks flying where Kakashi would have to divert the massive but deadly bulk of Kubikiribochou, Zabuza's sever-sword, with a simple kunai. Neither really seemed to have the advantage as Zabuza was stronger and faster but Kakashi had the predictive abilities of the Sharingan.

"You know Kakashi, as a Mist ANBU, we had a standing order to eliminate you on sight; Kakashi Hatake, the man who's said to have copied over a thousand Jutsu." Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the man; he was sure there were more than a few of those standing orders.

"Shame, we had no kind of order like that for you; guess you just weren't dangerous enough." Instantly the mirth in Zabuza's eyes vanished as his sword swings became far more ferocious and the two were forced to separate. However as Zabuza came to land on what appeared to be a solid branch it immediately broke under his weight. It was only his well-trained ears that let him hear the subtle click of a mechanism. It just allowed him to twist his body and bring his sword in between him and the massive barrage of kunai that had been set loose. With every weapon he deflected he saw the ever so slight sprays of purple ichor flicking off them; poison.

"Hmm." He huffed thoughtfully as he landed on an actually safe bough, looking across at where Kakashi was staring at him. "There's no way you had time to set that up while we were fighting." Kakashi's eyes simply crinkled up in amusement, a strange sight with the blood-red visage of the Sharingan in one.

"I think you'll find that it's my 'coward' of a student." Zabuza grunted again, stretching his neck as he carefully surveyed his surroundings again, suddenly far more wary.

"Interesting Gaki."

* * *

Said 'Gaki' was currently a few hundred metres away from the fight, crouched in a tree as still and quiet as he was able. Chakra threads ran off his fingers like spider-webs, each awaiting the slight vibrations that would warn him a trap needed to be set off. However even here, so far from the fight, it was a struggle not to let his hands shake even for a moment. A light droplet of sweat rolled down the back of his neck and his mouth was uncomfortably dry. This was nothing like the fight with the demon brothers; Kakashi was right when he said Zabuza was in a whole other league.

The powerful natures of their Chakra's clashing, the nervousness he felt every time their eyes unknowingly slid over his form, the sheer anxiety of being this close to two forces of nature clashing…

It was exhilarating.

Naruto was terrified of these monsters but at the same time he had never felt more alive; to even be a part of this clash felt like a privilege and he wasn't going to waste a moment of it. To that end as he felt one of his strings vibrate he carefully tugged it, a simple motion that was normally innocuous at best.

His reward was an explosion that rippled through the forest, blowing scattered bark and leaves in every direction.

Using the noise from the blast he quickly moved position; there was no underestimating Jounin of this calibre and he couldn't allow himself to be found for as long as possible.

No, then the surprise would be ruined.

* * *

"Rather annoying kid you have there Kakashi." Zabuza managed to growl out as he leapt away from yet another explosion; he was intercepted in mid-air while he was off-balance and gained a nasty cut up the arm for it. He landed on the floor this time figuring it was safer than the rigged tree-branches. If only Kakashi let up for a moment Zabuza could get away and deal with the brat; he was moving about but that wouldn't be enough to save him from a master of silent killing. However the silver-haired scarecrow wasn't letting up for a moment; every trap was an opportunity taken and they always seemed to be in his advantage.

What Zabuza didn't know was that Kakashi knew where every trap was; once he had figured out it was Naruto he was able to just about spot the thin Chakra threads strewn about. They may have been invisible to the naked eye but to his Sharingan they had their own light glow to them. Although the masked Jounin had to commend Naruto for actually hiding the majority of his threads on the undersides of tree limbs; it made them difficult to spot in the midst of combat. It was this fore-knowledge that made Kakashi smirk as Zabuza touched down on the ground.

A ripping sound was heard and suddenly Zabuza's footing was taken out from under him as a simple snare trap wrapped around his foot and hoisted him into the air. For a Jounin of his calibre it was simple enough to twist his body and sever the line but suddenly Kakashi was there and the Kiri-nin was forced to kick him away, unable to use the sword underneath him. The fact he was so nimble even on his hands made Kakashi frown; right now the advantage was his but Zabuza wasn't in the habit of leaving openings; if it turned to a battle of attrition then Kakashi would likely come off worse for it.

Suddenly though that didn't seem to be a problem as from behind Zabuza a familiar and welcome sight burst from the earth. Ramia, in her snake-tailed finesse, moved like a whip to wrap her long flexible body around Zabuza while he was still upside down. The Jounin's eyes widened in absolute surprise, never having expected something like this. Suddenly Ramia's tail was around his neck, the open hole at the end pressed warningly up against his throat.

"W-What?" Kakashi landed nimbly nearby, wiping the faintest sheen of sweat from his brow as he covered up his Sharingan again.

"That's good work Naruto; thank you for the assist there." After a few moments of silence followed by a quick ruffling Naruto dropped out of the trees. It was fairly obvious to a trained onlooker he was desperately trying to keep some form of composure as Zabuza stared him down with bloody murder in his eyes. However in a show of bravado that felt entirely false to the young blonde he held up his hands, forcing the Chakra threads connected to Ramia to become more visible. It was a clear warning that Naruto could activate any of the mechanisms with a twitch of his fingers.

"Sorry about not telling you beforehand Sensei." Kakashi sighed as he looked at his student, wondering just what to do with the boy.

"It's okay, just try not to do it again; you didn't know what you were getting into with a fight between high-level Shinobi." Naruto nodded; he knew that all too well now. It was obvious his traps would have been woefully ineffective had Kakashi not been there acting as a distraction and even Ramia wouldn't have been enough had Zabuza not already been tired out fighting. Hell, it was likely a miracle it worked as well as it did; however even as Naruto thought this his hands lowered slightly and Zabuza took his chance.

With an unexpected second wind he suddenly twisted his body down, ducking under the tail at the same moment a heavily poisoned kunai burst from the tip and the tail moved to constrict around his throat. In the same smooth movement he lashed out with his enormous sword, cleaving Ramia's body clean in two at the waist. Naruto's eyes widened at the very sudden destruction of his favourite puppet but at that moment he had more worrisome things to deal with. Still in the midst of his manoeuvre Zabuza suddenly turned to Naruto, his sword extended, his foot ready to bring him that single step closer to the young puppeteer that would guarantee his death.

Then, oddly, Zabuza simply slumped to the ground, two long metal needles sticking out the side of his throat. Naruto, panting heavily from the rush of adrenaline, blinked once, then twice, unable to believe he was still alive. A new figure entered the clearing, bearing strange kimono-like clothing that looked heavy to wear and a simple white mask decorated by a red wave and slit-like eye-holes.

"Thank you for the assistance; I have been chasing down Momochi-san for quite a while now." Naruto blinked again before snapping out of his near-death trance, a scowl passing over his features.

"What are you doing? I had him -'ttebayo!" Kakashi looked across at his student in surprise, unused to Naruto showing this kind of emotion. Although he supposed he could put that up to the high stress of the situation; he was more confused about the outburst than anything. However when he looked around he saw Ramia's lower body still standing up; the sections all down the front of the tail were opened to reveal a gleaming array of kunai waiting to be fired. Had they been they would have absolutely shredded through Zabuza's body, which would have shielded Naruto due to his bulk.

"Yes, but you would have likely died in the process." There was no annoyance or irritation in the newcomer's voice; it was smooth and clinical. Immediately Naruto quietened; it was true that Zabuza's forward momentum, even if he had been littered with poisoned Kunai, would have carried his blade straight through Naruto's body.

"You're a hunter-nin from Kiri, correct?" Kakashi decided to step in before his student got in an argument with such a skilled opponent; that kind of accuracy with senbon was a dangerous skill. The mask figure turned to him, their long black hair swaying slightly; with their androgynous appearance and bulky clothing it was hard to determine their gender.

"Yes, now if you'll excuse me I have to do my job." The hunter-nin was about to reach for the body when Naruto quickly stopped them.

"Wait, that weapon you used, what are they?" The Shinobi paused, looking up at Naruto with that blank, emotionless mask before one of the long metal needles slid from their sleeves and handed it to him.

"They are senbon." Naruto's eyes narrowed, they clearly were not senbon; after all a senbon were very thin, long needles used in acupuncture. These were clearly thicker and sturdier than their medicine-based counterparts; however even looking at them had the gears in Naruto's mind turning. They clearly had greater penetrating power than kunai or shuriken, yet they were smaller so more could be packed into the same area, that meant-

"If that's all…?" The hunter-nin snapped him out of his thoughts by leaving the question hanging but Naruto was not done yet.

"What about the bounty? I bet a Shinobi like Zabuza had a massive bounty and we did all your work for you." At this point Kakashi was growing worried, he could feel the onset of exhaustion from overusing his Sharingan .

"Naruto, don't argue with the hunter-nin, we need to…" Suddenly his exposed eye grew heavy "…need to…" Naruto's eyes widened as his Sensei suddenly lilted over and the blonde was forced to catch the lanky man before he crashed into the ground. When he looked back around both Zabuza and the hunter-nin were gone making him scowl in irritation.

"Well damn." After a moment though he looked back down at the innocuous needle in his hand and shrugged. "Not a total loss I suppose." With that he began the inevitably long journey back towards his teammates with his Sensei awkwardly propped up by his much shorter frame. Damn, If only Ramia hadn't been broken he could just get her to carry him. As it was he was going to have to collect her pieces and put her back together again until she was back to her same old self. He glanced down at the Senbon in his hand again…

Maybe not completely the same.


	5. Threading the needle

**I own it, I own it not, I own it, I own it not, I own it, I own it not, I own it... *hopeful gleam in eye*...I own it not. Damn, stupid flower.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"__The universe is a symphony of strings, and the mind of God that Einstein eloquently wrote about for thirty years would be cosmic music resonating through eleven-dimensional hyper space." - Michio Kaku_

* * *

"What do you mean just wait for him to wake up? What if Gatou has hired more Shinobi like Zabuza?" Sasuke spat out at the pinkette who shrank back under his baleful glare. Sakura had just been trying to impose some reason amongst the three Genin that had been arguing for the past few minutes.

"Well then let's say you're right, what exactly can we do about it? We need Kakashi-sensei if we want to stand up to anybody like that; we can't fight Jounin!" Came Sakura's reply, to which Sasuke huffed; it had been like this the entire time. Sasuke was itching to do something after hearing about how Naruto had aided the battle against Zabuza. Sakura on the other hand wanted to stay put in Tazuna's house; with Kakashi unconscious for the time being she didn't exactly feel safe.

"We could hold them off." Sakura was normally the first to agree with Sasuke but right now her fears were a far stronger force than her affections.

"You don't know that Sasuke-kun; plus how would we even do that?" The dark-haired Uchiha growled, leaning further back on his chair at the kitchen table, looking up at the ceiling as if he could see through it to where Kakashi was asleep. He glanced over, noticing Naruto tinkering with some kind of small mechanism in his hand; he had been rather quiet so far.

"You think so too don't you Naruto? That we shouldn't just wait around?" Normally Sasuke wouldn't ask Naruto what he thought, but among the three of them he was a bit used to a two-against-one decision basis in his favor and with Sakura too cowardly to agree with him he needed Naruto to fit the pattern. Sasuke had no intention of being 'the one' in a two-against-one scenario here.

The blond boy stopped what he was doing before peering up from beneath his hood, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. He was trying to fix the finer points of Ramia that had been destroyed after all; without her he was unfortunately useless in a fight.

"Don't put words in my mouth." Sasuke scowled at the nonchalant reply, thinking that he was just going to side with Sakura; indecisive weaklings, all of them. "However there is merit in early action." Sasuke's brow rose slightly; perhaps he spoke too soon. "But going out and looking for a fight on the other hand…" Naruto slipped the small mechanical piece back into one of his many pockets before leaning on the table with his elbows. "…isn't exactly the action of a Shinobi." Sakura sighed internally; hopefully with Naruto backing her up she could convince Sasuke to back down. For some reason the dark-haired boy tended to listen to the blonde's advice.

"So then what do you propose?" Naruto let his head fall slightly, lowering an arm so that he was looking at his two teammates at a slant.

"Right now what we lack is information; one of us should go to the town and scout it out a bit. We need a feel for what's going on in this nation; Gatou's forces, his plans, really anything about him that might paint a clearer picture of what he might do." Sasuke grunted but he didn't disagree; the Academy had always stressed information gathering as an important skill for any Shinobi. However it was Sakura who raised her hand, a sudden fire lit behind her eyes.

"I could do that." Naruto smiled at her; it wasn't really a good smile and looked awkward on the blonde's features.

"No, as the only medic we have on the team you're too important to risk. If Kakashi's condition gets worse you'll need to be here." Sure… that was the reason; it certainly sounded better than the fact he had no faith in her ability to learn anything remotely useful. All the same the pinkette slumped in her seat, a dejected look on her face as Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"Then I'll go." He was itching to do something other than just sit around anyway; however he was annoyed to find that Naruto simply chuckled at him.

"Sasuke an excellent fighter you may be; but a people person you are not. Anyway; with my puppet… out of commission, for the moment, you are the strongest fighter on our team by far. You'll need to be here to protect both Kakashi and Sakura." A small growl rippled from the Uchiha's throat to make his displeasure known but he didn't argue; it was hard to when Naruto spoke nothing but the truth, even if it was weighted in his favour.

"As if you're such a people person." Again Naruto just chuckled; he suppose his sickly appearance, loner habits and general lack of enthusiasm towards human interaction would give that impression. However he once again surprised the Uchiha by slowly pulling a hand down his face. When he was finished the shadows under his eyes were gone, as were his whiskers, and his normally delicate and pale-looking skin had taken on a more healthy tan. He completed the look by shucking his outer jacket; it made him feel more vulnerable but look far more open, especially without the hood shadowing his eyes and hiding his long spiky hair.

"Hi there, Sasuke isn't it?" Both of the other members of Team Seven were surprised when Naruto assumed a fairly relaxed posture, his tone easy and friendly. He looked across the table and gave Sakura a small wink. With his appearance the way it was now he looked like one of the Bishounin straight out of the magazines she read and a hint of red immediately entered her cheeks. "And you must be Sakura." He reached across the table and quickly took her hand in a firm grip, a casual but warm smile dancing across his lips. By the time he backed away and sat back in the chair the blush on Sakura's cheeks had only intensified and she was forced to look away.

"W-Why aren't you like that all the time?" Slowly Naruto's normal features faded back in, revealing it to be some sort of henge; it also revealed the small scowl he now sported as he got up and made his way to the door.

"Who would want to be so fake?" And with that he just walked out into the night, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone to figure out what they should do.

* * *

A young red-haired man with a warm smile and bright green eyes, a traveller's pack slung over one shoulder, sighed happily as he placed down what was once a large plate of Sushi. He leaned back in contentment, rubbing his stomach lightly as he just wallowed in the taste of the food for a while. Behind the counter the young auburn haired woman manning the stall grinned happily at the first customer she'd had in days. Not only that but he had bought a lot of food, enough that she didn't have to fear Gatou's taxes for another few weeks.

"Man Nee-chan, that was some damn fine Sushi ya know?" And he was so flattering too, calling her Nee-chan so casually like that. Already they had a nice conversation about food and cooking as she found out the man was actually an avid food connoisseur due to his travels. Briefly, as all conversations were want to do in Nami nowadays, they had strayed onto the hard times the nation had come under, but they were quick to divert from that.

"You're too kind; it's nothing special." The man merely chuckled as he placed down a few notes, subtly sliding a small piece of paper in between them as he did so before jumping back off his stool.

"You keep telling yourself that Nee-chan but I know special when I taste it." He grinned happily as he ducked out under the curtains to the stall, but not before a last comment. "You always have to think that change is just around the corner." And with that he was gone, allowing the woman to visibly deflate as she leaned against her counter. Change, she might laugh at the thought if all her laughter hadn't been sucked out months ago. There would be no change for Nami. She frowned though as she thumbed the money the kindly stranger had left only to brush across the note.

Her eyebrows rose slightly as she read what it said.

A short distance away the visage of the kindly redhead faded to reveal Naruto, a thoughtful expression on his face. That was the last stall he would be visiting that night; by now he had a fairly solid grasp of the situation in Wave. Hell, just walking around could have done that for him. Idly he slipped some money as well as another note into a young girl's hat that was seated limply in front of her as she weakly played out a few notes on the beaten-up violin in her hands. From what he had seen it was a miracle it hadn't been taken from her by the patrolling thugs that wandered around the village.

Gatou's influence really as everywhere here, in the large and brutish men walking around with weapons constantly bared. They were the police, the enforcers, the guards and the tax-collectors of Gatou's operation. None of them were Chakra users though, just common hoodlums given swords, as well as a bit too much power and money. He had already seen them shake down more than a few people for their 'tax' which seemed to change randomly on a whim to whatever they felt like at the time. In another instance he had actually seen a young family kicked out of their home for not being able to pay; they were quite literally tossed out onto the street.

Naruto had just carried on walking, his hood covering where his eyes wandered.

The air reeked of destitution and hopelessness to the point where it seemed to even infect the sky. It was as though there were a permanent raincloud over the quiet little town. People slept out in the streets, or in alleys if they were lucky; most of them didn't even have shoes any more. Others just walked the streets, heads low and submissive, a general lack of purpose to their movements and expressions. Everything just seemed bathed in various shades of depressing grey and already Naruto had halted three different attempts by kids at stealing the things in his pockets; it was more for their own safety than any real attachment he had to things.

Occasionally, like he had just done, he would hand out a bit of money, or a scrap of food to those he saw surviving. The ones that, despite their skinny bodies and pallid skin, continued to try to do something. Some would perform, even if the pieces and movements lacked lustre or energy. Others would try and steal, like those kids. However Naruto could appreciate those that stubbornly continued to try even in a poor situation, it oddly struck a chord somewhere in his mind. However with each bit of food or handful of money he slipped a small, inconspicuous note.

It was just a simple white card with an even simpler message but for now, while Naruto's mind was still turning its cogs, it would be enough. Some would immediately throw it away, others might look at it in confusion for a while but all of them would read it. People in a desperation situation were want to reach out to any small flicker of hope, however dim. Naruto would know, having lived himself and found that ember of hope, fanning it slowly into his art.

The note simply read: 'Change is coming'

* * *

By the time he got back Kakashi was once more among the conscious and was waiting for him in the kitchen, seemingly recovered from his self-induced exhaustion. Naruto briefly wondered just how draining it must be to have an artificially implanted Doujutsu in one's eye. Based on how Kakashi's skin was only now regaining its colour and the man didn't seem to want to get up from the chair when he walked it, evidently quite.

"It's good to see you up Kakashi-sensei." His tone didn't really convey such feelings as he slid a chair out and sat down on it backwards so his chest was pressed up against the back. The man simply stared at him with a level gaze for a while; most would have found it odd to walk in and see a Jounin staring down a genin like that.

"Sakura tells me you went out to gather information; that was quick of you." Naruto nodded; in all honesty he was quite tired right now and wanted to go up and sleep. Admittedly without easy access to his workshop ideas were coming to him slowly right now so he'd actually gotten a fairly normal night's sleep yesterday… but still.

"I found out where Gatou lives and works, the nearest three villages to us and some of the patrol routes of his thugs; although they are erratic and random at best. They seem to have no direct or purpose other than to be bullies for the sake of bullying." Naruto just decided to tell the Jounin the truth; the man had an uncanny knack at looking right past lies. Lies of omission on the other hand were anybody's game. Kakashi may have been able to tell he was hiding something, but Naruto was always hiding something so there wasn't much he could do.

"I appreciate the effort but there really was no need; after all our mission is to simply guard Tazuna while he finishes work on the bridge. What happens beyond that is not our concern." Naruto raised an eyebrow but shrugged all the same.

"Oh well, you can never be too prepared, ne? We couldn't know how long you would be out for or if Gatou had decided to send everyone else he had." Kakashi nodded slowly, his eye turning up into his signature smile.

"It's nice to feel so concerned over, but there's no need to worry, I just haven't used the eye in a while and overdid it slightly." Naruto shrugged and made to leave the kitchen; it was a bit disrespectful, but so was arriving to everything hours late. "Speaking of which, you never did seem all that surprised." Naruto chuckled tiredly with a small yawn as he rounded the doorway without even turning back.

"Come on Sensei, your nickname _is_ Sharingan no Kakashi." And with nothing more said he quietly slipped upstairs for some much appreciated shut-eye.

* * *

The next day Naruto could be found up on the roof of Tazuna's house. It seemed despite his tiredness the previous day his body's erratic sleep schedule saw fit to wake him up near the crack of dawn. Around him he could spot the early morning mist rolling on from the ocean and birds were beginning to make their presence known in the trees. It was nice to just be alone with his thoughts every so often, especially after starting as a Genin and having much of his day suddenly taken up with D-ranks.

Right now he was pondering something that had been on his mind since seeing the condition of Nami the other night. He was thinking about how he wanted people to view him. Normally this was a fairly normal thought for a young pre-pubescent teen however in Naruto's case it was more how he wanted his eventual network to see him. Naturally, if he wanted information through such a source he would need to talk to, or at least communicate with people. This would involve interaction with others and how that would go would be up to him.

Already he had seen how effective Gatou's strategy of total control through the elimination of hope and will was. It secured a fast and effective domination with little chance of resistance. However at the same time it was like building a mighty house atop foundations of sand; alone the house may stay up but overtime the chances of the foundations giving way can only grow. Despite the general hopelessness of Nami, human's weren't creatures to give up easily and the seeds of dissent were already there, waiting to be nourished.

It was an effective, but ultimately short-sighted approach.

On the other side of that coin Naruto considered Konoha, where there were legions of Shinobi prepared to give up their lives for their Hokage, for their 'will of fire'. Naruto, as an outcast of this system, had never felt so much a flicker of this ideal, but he could certainly appreciate its effectiveness. While the control may not be so absolute, as people working under what they believed was a good and righteous rule weren't wanting to perform ostensibly 'evil' acts, in the long term their loyalty was secured because they had something to hope for, to believe in.

However such a system had taken years of grounding and integration and not to mention the subtle indoctrination in the Academy to accomplish. Not to mention obvious examples like Orochimaru of the Sannin and Itachi Uchiha proved there were fatal flaws to the system. So while that approach had a great deal more promise in the long term, small mistakes tended to spiral into much larger ones with far more ease. At least under the former way mistakes and abnormalities would be quashed before they grew too troublesome as long as enough foresight is given.

It was a difficult topic for a boy just coming into his teen years, but one that weighed on his mind nevertheless.

His mind drifted to Sasori, as he tended to do when he reached an impasse in his thoughts. The man was a missing-nin so his methods couldn't generally be said to be humane or ethical; in which case it was likely he had taken some form of the former strategy when it came to his own network. At that thought though Naruto realised he had found his answer; as much as he admired and looked up to his unlikely inspiration he couldn't be a carbon copy of the man.

Somehow it seemed remarkably fitting that the first ever puppeteer to be seen out of Suna began his foundations on something a little more solid than sand.

* * *

"Come on Kakashi-sensei, you know it makes the most sense." Naruto argued in a neutral, almost emotionless tone; he wouldn't have the man call him too invested in this.

"And yet involves the most unnecessary risk." Came the silver-haired Jounin's calm reply.

"Only with poor planning, or don't you believe in your students?" Kakashi's eyebrow rose at the faux-hurt tone Naruto put on.

"Believe? Yes. Trust to perform an assassination mission? No." Naruto shrugged like the man's casual dismissal of his plan wasn't a big deal; they had been going back and forth on this for a god few minutes now.

"I've already said it isn't assassination, it's simply an exfiltration from his mansion so that proper justice can be served." Kakashi simply continued to read his book and gently sip at his herbal tea, his body language dismissive.

"And since when are Shinobi, or you for that matter, such paragons of justice?" That was a fair point, if a little blunt; after all Shinobi were glorified mercenaries, basing their work on pay rather than the concept of right or wrong. Naruto could have done without the slight though, as true as it was.

"We've always been a tool for the masses to keep higher powers in check." That was sort of true, at least until the higher-powers decided that Shinobi would be better off working under them.

"The higher power in this case being an assassination target of a mission we haven't in any way been paid for?" At that Naruto had to raise an eyebrow from where he was sitting across the table from his Jounin Sensei. Kakashi was really playing the money angle? Maybe exhaustion had effected him more than the blonde originally thought.

"No, but we have been paid for a protection detail and Tazuna will never be effectively safe until Gatou is dealt with. Even the bridge he is building could simply be torn down once we are gone." Kakashi shrugged with a complete lack of concern bred from two decades of being a Shinobi.

"Not our problem Naruto. We do what we were paid to do, nothing more nothing less. Our job perimeters are to protect him during his job, and once that's done he's on his own." Naruto ran a hand through his hair slowly, it was one of those rare times he actually had his hood down. It was to try and add the 'human' touch to the argument.

"Deposing Gatou would mean Nami's economy stabilising; I'm sure they would be thankful to Konoha afterward." A debt from a strategically placed nation like Nami would be indispensable to Konoha and Hi no Kuni alike.

"Or we risk angering the man already _legally _in control of the nation and Hi no Kuni's transportation services by sea are cut off." Naruto snorted lightly; from what he had seen there was nothing remotely legal about what had been done to this country.

"All the more reason to have your input so things don't go badly; plus right now is an opportune time to strike, while Gatou can't rally any more Shinobi to come after us." Right now his forces consisted of mainly converted bandits and street thugs, cannon fodder to even rookie Shinobi. However for a moment Kakashi just stared at his book, his eyes not particularly focused on it. Over the day Naruto had noticed the man spacing out at irregular intervals, as if he were mulling over a particularly difficult problem. It seemed to start after Naruto gave his run down of the events following his collapse.

"Naruto, tell me again what the Hunter-nin did with Zabuza's body." Naruto sighed as he brushed more hair away from his eyes, this was why he liked his hood; it kept his messy locks in check.

"Sensei, changing the topic is just childish." Kakashi just gave him a level stare for a long few moments, forcing the boy to roll his eyes and lean back on his chair. "Like I said I'm not sure; when I looked back up after you fainted-" Kakashi quickly interjected.

"Fell briefly to exhaustion." Naruto raised an eyebrow but continued anyway.

"-Both the Hunter-nin and Zabiza's body were gone. Why?" Kakashi sighed, placing his face in his hand and sighed.

"Because I don't think that was a real hunter-nin, and Zabuza isn't dead." To his credit, Naruto's mouth only fell open a little.

* * *

Almost an hour later, after Kakashi had explained his speculation to all of his students, including the proper technique for a Hunter-nin when they deal with a corpse, making Sakura pale, and Naruto was back at it. Kakashi had insisted on training the three up to a level where they would be a hindrance in a fight with Zabuza and his newly identified accomplice. Naruto on the other hand vehemently supported the original plan of striking first and removing Zabuza's source of income as to remove him as the threat entirely. After all, if Zabuza wasn't going to be paid he'd have no reason to come back for them.

This finally seemed to be the tipping point for Kakashi as he weighed up his woefully under-experienced genin's safety against the risks an assassination would pose. It wasn't just to their health though, it was also to their innocence; there was a reason assassinations were a chuunin level mission parameter. However Naruto had already killed, any innocence of that kind had been lost to him now. Finally he relented under Naruto's constant pestering and allowed the boy to come up with a plan of how he would do it; just to see what the boy came up with.

He was surprised then when, minutes later, Naruto plopped a small, neat folder down in front of his jotted with small, scrawled notes and rather detailed, obviously professional blue-prints of Gatou's mansion and office. To the blonde, the look on the silver-haired Jounin's face was rather priceless.

"Naruto, where did you get time to find these blueprints?" The blonde shrugged as he sat himself down, Sakura and Sasuke sitting at the other end of the table and watching curiously as their teammate actually coerced their Sensei into an assassination.

"Tazuna had them; he built most of the larger structures in this country, mansion included." Kakashi blinked, having not really paid attention to the fact their client was also a rather successful architect.

"And this plan?" It was a bit rudimentary and any ANBU captain would look at it and scoff, but for a genin it was rather impressive, if not straightforward.

"I started on it yesterday." Kakashi's eyebrow twitched; that meant Naruto had been expecting him to fold. However after going over it he really had nothing to complain over and with a final, exhausted sigh he just gave it. It was just so much easier that way.

* * *

Naruto walked out of Tazuna's house in a rather uncharacteristically good mood; it was rare for things to so prolifically go his way. However as if thinking about his own good fortune somehow soured it, Sasuke appeared.

"Want to have a spar?" The question was deceptively innocent and wouldn't have gone too out of place amongst most genin teams. However this was Team Seven, the one with a fangirl and two loners… two loners that don't really enjoy interacting with people.

"Why?" Naruto was cautious with his answer; Sasuke had been weird ever since the confrontation with Zabuza. He seemed unusually restless, kept giving Naruto odd, almost seething looks, and was even more dismissive of Sakura than normal.

"Isn't that what teammates do?" That brought a small humourless smirk on Naruto's features.

"How would either of us know?" Sasuke just grunted, but he didn't disagree.

"Well, do you want to spar?" Naruto snorted, moving to push past the dark-haired Uchiha; he had preparations to set up.

"For what? To inflate your ego and prove what we both already know… that your Taijutsu is vastly superior to my own?" Naruto just shook his head, hands immediately seeking his pockets as he pulled his hood back up. "You don't want a spar, you want a fight." Sasuke just turned and grabbed his shoulder, his features set in a scowl and a glint in his eye.

"Fine then, a fight; I don't care." Naruto looked at Sasuke for a few moments before snorting again, moving to simply go and ignore the boy until he stopped acting so childish. It was obvious that his superiority complex was acting up and ordering him to assert his dominance over Naruto. Most likely it was because of what the boy perceived his role to be in the fight against Zabuza. Where Naruto merely provided some support from the side lines like any genin could have done, Sasuke still saw it as involvement in a high-level confrontation.

"No, Ramia is still out of action." In truth he had fixed all of the small broken components within Ramia's torso, he just needed to reattach the severed halves. He just didn't particularly want to waste time fighting his teammates, as entertaining as it might be. He kept making to leave only to miss Sasuke smirk imperiously at his back.

"So what? You're useless without your dolls?" Naruto paused and Sasuke's smirk twisted into a victorious grin. The blonde turned back to his teammate, eye-twitching slightly before he reaffirmed his features and allowed a small, unsettling smile to grow on his lips.

"Alright, let me just grab a few things from my bag; I'll be back in five minutes." Sasuke just nodded quickly; anything to make his teammate just fight him. With that Naruto walked off back towards the house, but not before quickly veering off into the forest once he was out of Sasuke's line of sight.

* * *

Just as the boy was beginning to feel the beginnings of impatience Naruto reappeared, almost five minutes later on the dot. A small smile adorned the boy's face and he was once again fully clothed in his full gear, puppets notwithstanding. However just as Sasuke was about to ask if he was ready, 'Naruto' suddenly spread his jacket. He was quickly revealed to be wearing an entire roll of explosive notes, one of which was quite happily fizzling away.

"Ready to start?" And without further pause, 'Naruto' exploded into a fine hail of wood and other miscellany debris. Up in the trees of the forest some distance away Naruto winced, watching the final end of Dami, or at least that permutation of him. In truth he was a rather simplistic puppet and would be easy to re-build at home, but it wasn't really all that pleasant to see any of his puppets destroyed.

Luckily for him Sasuke had enough time to dodge the explosion by leaping back into the trees, only gaining a few light scratches from the shrapnel. The notes had been rather low yield though and half of them were just flash tags so short of Sasuke running up and hugging the puppet before it blew, there hadn't been much danger. Unfortunately for Sasuke Naruto had not intended to blow his teammate up, he simply wanted him in the forest. This was quickly made apparent as two of Naruto's fingers twitched, setting off identical explosions at the base of two trees, once again forcing Sasuke back and further into the forest.

"What are you doing Naruto?" The boy called out into the forest, favouring his left side tanks to a long scratch running up his arm. Using his skills in ventriloquism and a healthy application of Chakra to his vocal chords, Naruto made his voice scatter about the forest, bouncing it off trees to disorient and confuse the Uchiha.

"You wanted a fight didn't you? This is how I fight." Again his fingers twitched and this time a large volley of Kunai was set free, only to quickly bear down on his opponent. Sasuke instinctively jumped at the sound of the mechanical click and was lucky for it… Naruto had been aiming for his legs after all. Expecting another trap he looked around warily and was rewarded by just about spotting the faint glint of thin steel ninja wire appearing from the nearby trees to wrap him up. He gracefully jumped over the glinting threads only to suddenly find himself without leverage and facing down another small barrage of kunai.

Reflexes saved him that time as he managed to grab the first out of the air and use it to bat away the next with a great deal of exertion. He quickly dropped the kunai when he realised it was coated in a thin purple film and was thankful for the fingerless gloves her wore that prevented it getting on his skin. He was growing annoyed with this now; it wasn't a fight, it was a glorified training course.

"Come on Naruto, you can't have set too many traps in five minutes, why don't you actually come out and fight me?" He was surprised then, having only really said it as a taunt, when he got a reply.

"Hmm, okay." This time there was no voice modification trickery and Sasuke clearly heard the voice almost directly above him. However when he looked up all he got was the bottom of Naruto's sandal as the boy used his face as a stepping stone. Sasuke was right, Naruto had been running out of traps, so for the past few seconds he had been manoeuvring himself into position right above the boy, stuck to the underside of a branch with Chakra. It was worth the blood rush to his head to see Sasuke gripping his nose like that, blood beginning to pour from it.

Deciding not to give the prodigiously talented Taijutsu user a chance to recover Naruto rushed forward, managing to get a clean hit to the ribs before Sasuke recovered. That was all he got though as Sasuke cleared his head and responded viciously; he locked Naruto's next punch under his arm, caught the following kick and promptly, in a very un-Uchiha manner, head butted Naruto in the face. It left both boys with similarly bloodied noses however Naruto was still precisely where he wanted to be. Getting in this close and locking himself with Naruto proved a fatal error for Sasuke as Naruto angled his remaining arm up at the boys chest.

With a dull 'thwip' sound a single long metal needle shot from Naruto's sleeve, embedding a few inches into Sasuke's chest. The effect was immediate and Sasuke's body fell limply to the ground, his eyes wide. Naruto took a moment to wipe his nose of blood until it was clean before grinning down at the boy.

"Want to go again?" Sasuke growled, finding that while he couldn't move an inch of his body, speech was not taken from him.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto simply pulled his long jacket sleeve up; usually it served to hide the movement of his fingers but it also did quite well at concealing the strange mechanism strapped to his arm. It was crude and hastily jury-rigged into position, only able to fire a single senbon before it needed reloading, but it was effective. There was also the small fact all Naruto had on hand were actual medicinal senbon, not the combat-grade ones the hunter-nin had used. It still worked as a vector for poisons though.

"Pretty neat huh? I configured it from a similar launcher mechanism in Dami's arm." He actually looked rather proud of it, because he was; it was less than five minute's work after all.

"You cheated." Naruto scoffed as he rolled his sleeve back down.

"There's no such thing in a ninja fight. What I did was improvise." Sasuke really wanted to punch the boy then but his arms were still immobilised.

"What did you do to me?" Naruto shrugged nonchalantly.

"The paralysis? Don't worry about that; you should be up again in a few minutes." His face took a thoughtful turn. "Then again, the biggest thing I've tested it on is a rabbit… but I'm pretty sure I got the concentration and dosage right." He shrugged again, seemingly done with his internal debate. "Dinner time at the latest." He nodded to himself, apparently satisfied with the assessment; and on that note he quickly left, leaving Sasuke to shout obscenities at his back until he regained mobility almost half an hour later.

Naruto didn't have time for things like that though, he had a short and power hungry businessman's assassination to deal with. Maybe this would serve as a lesson to Sasuke not to allow his opponents to dictate the landscape of a fight.


	6. Completing the stitch

***sigh* Still don't...**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"A fishnet is made up of a lot more holes than strings, but you can't therefore argue that the net doesn't exist. Just ask the fish." - Jeffrey Kluger_

* * *

Gatou grumbled to himself under his breath, wincing as he rolled his arm slightly; that little brat really had done a number on it back at Zabuza's hideout. He absently straightened his suit as he walked through the walled off gates of his manor, not even bothering to glance at the two guards standing to either side. As long as they were doing their job he didn't give a crap what they did or how they saw him so he kept his narrowed eyes dead ahead. As normal he had two of his best thugs, each a travelling Ronin before he hired them, flanking him. They served as good intimidation to any would-be attackers thanks to the glinting swords each carried.

His attention was on the problem of what to do about the bridge-builder now that Zabuza and his brat had proved unreliable. On the side he mulled over how he would deal with them too; obviously he wasn't going to pay them as he hated inefficient work. It was a difficult prospect though and although sending out a missive for nearby thugs and Ronin to gather so he could use them to take the Missing-nin out and collect his bounty had seemed like a good idea at first; he was beginning to have second thoughts. He grinned, realising he could just use the inevitable conflict between Zabuza and the Konoha-nin before swooping in and mopping up whoever was left; they would likely be weakened anyway.

He rolled his neck as he walked through the ante-chamber to his office, accepting the cup of coffee put in his hand by his assistant without a word. He sighed as he took a sip, enjoying the flavour of Nami's own blend; it was one of the reasons he had considered moving his operation to the backwater nation in the first place. For a moment though he paused, looking back at his assistant as the dark-haired man returned to his own little desk with a frown. The man seemed different today although Gatou couldn't place it; deciding he already had enough to think about he just shrugged it off and entered his office.

"Hello Gatou-san." What he didn't expect to see was a young hooded boy with messy blonde hair that couldn't have been older than thirteen. He had his feet kicked up on Gatou's immaculate wooden desk as he casually sifted through a few documents.

"What the hell is this?! Who let this Gaki in my office?!" A blood vessel pulsed dangerously on Gatou's forehead at this serious breach in security. "Hizashi, Aki, get him out right now." However when there was no sound of movement around him the diminutive business man quickly checked behind him only to fall back in horror. As a businessman that had travelled rather extensively before settling in Nami no Kuni, Gatou could profess to having experienced quite a bit of the Shinobi world. The abomination of snake and woman in front of him though, lifting up and choking both of his loyal guards, was a first.

"W-What the hell is that?!" Naruto grinned uncharacteristically as he span on the comfy revolving chair behind the desk before flipping over it and landing by the side of the man, making him scrabble further away.

"Do you like her? I call her Ramia." He patted the puppet on the side fondly, his other hand ensuring the construct didn't let go of the two suffocating Ronin it had lifted off the floor by their necks.

"What's going on here? Who are you?" The man's eyes frantically traced over the boy only to find no identifying insignia or symbol anywhere on the boy's form. "You're a Shinobi aren't you! Where's your headband?" Naruto's eyebrow rose as he looked down at himself, almost as if he honestly didn't know he was missing one.

"Oh, here and there I suppose; I have so many pockets sometimes even I lose track." Gatou just couldn't find the amusement in the joking words as his bodyguards were slowly strangulated and the boy continued to advance on him. "As for what's going on, what does it look like Gatou-san? This is the liberation of Nami no Kuni." Finally Gatou seemed to snap out of it; maybe because of his own anger, or perhaps because his mind continued to scream at him that this was just a boy.

"Liberation!?" Gatou spat on the floor in front of him. "Don't make me laugh; if I die then Nami will fall apart faster than you could blink." Naruto paused for a moment with an indecipherable expression, causing Gatou to smirk victoriously. However it was quickly wiped from his face as Naruto cocked his head and returned the smile, unnerving the small man.

"Your concern for Nami's well-being is admirable, if unnecessary. I have no intention of letting such a gem of a country go to waste like that." He looked out the panoramic window at the back of Gatou's office on the sprawling forestland beyond. The sea was visible like a streak of glittering blue on the horizon with just the faintest hints of the early-morning fog as it receded back into the water. It made for a rather surreal and fantastical sight. "You really do have excellent taste for choosing it." At this point Gatou had hauled himself to his feet, feeling no immediate danger from the blonde teen in front of him.

"So what then, you'll just kill me? I own all of Nami. If I die then all those assets are immediately dissolved into the country; you'll have accomplished nothing." Naruto shrugged as he waved his hand nonchalantly, walking back over to the desk and siting on the edge.

"That can be quite easily solved with a few signatures here and there." Gatou scoffed as he wiped down the front of his suit, having gotten over his shock at his bodyguards' demise around the same time Ramia had allowed their limp forms to slump uselessly to the ground.

"And what makes you think I'll give my signature to you, Gaki?" Naruto turned back to him, lips twisting into a smile as he held up two sheets. One was a fairly simply transaction order, signed and stamped at the bottom in Gatou's hand. The other sheet was just a blank piece of paper, save for the immaculately copied signature scrawled across the top.

"You already have." Gatou scowled; the signature was damn perfect, down to the slight flicks to the dotted Kanji. He didn't know that perfecting one's calligraphy was the first step in learning Fuinjutsu, an art Naruto was forced to learn to make his puppets even remotely combat-ready. Copying a signature was the least Naruto could do with the art, even at his rather rudimentary level.

"Suddenly signing over so many of the company's assets right before my death? It'll be suspicious, nobody will accept it." Gatou practically spat, clutching at straws to prolong his life and think of a way out of this. However Naruto just chuckled softly, turning in a way that the light streaming in through the massive window caused his eyes to be shadowed.

"And there is your downfall Gatou-san. You were so paranoid about an event like this occurring you made sure to completely monopolise your own company, delegating responsibilities to few and far between. You practically run the entirety of Gatou Shipping and Transport and your word is law. So who exactly is left in charge to question it? Even so, your copied word seems to be just as good as your spoken word as far as your employees are concerned. It doesn't pay to be disliked… just ask your assistant." Gatou growled, knowing he had been sold out by the reedy, dark-haired man; it was no wonder he had felt something off with the man today.

"So what? You have everything you need; why haven't you killed me yet? There must be a reason." At that Naruto's grin only widened, made creepy by the fact his eyes were completely enshrouded in darkness to give him an almost Cheshire-like appearance. Absently he looked over at the clock on the wall that had been steadily ticking away throughout their conversation.

"Did you enjoy the coffee today Gatou-san? I brewed it myself." Gatou was about to ask what he meant before he suddenly found his vision blurring, his eyelids growing extremely heavy and his body oddly numb. He swayed for only a moment before falling limply over on his side, completely unconscious. Naruto's smile slowly bled away as he ignored the now sleeping man in favour of the documents lying on his desk. He picked one up and scanned through it, shaking his head like a mother might when scolding a child.

"Oh Gatou, Gatou, Gatou… Drug trafficking? Slave trade? Illegal weapons smuggling? Someone was a very naughty boy." He looked up, seeming to re-think his thought before grinning, sparing a glance over at the painting on the wall he knew to hide a large and easily broken-into safe. "A very rich, naughty boy." He chuckled to himself as he continued to scanning the documents, writing up and signing the ones he would need for his plans to work. Really he was amazed that this on the fly-plan was going so well; he was almost waiting for something to come along and ruin it.

Tomorrow Team Seven would enact his plan to 'assassinate' Gatou, only to find the man had fled the country. He would act disappointed, irritated even, and Kakashi would be there with a consolidating, but patronising eye-smile. However in the Jounin's eyes a gone Gatou would be just as good as a dead Gatou, so that would be that. He began to whistle softly as he continued his work, it would likely take him a few hours to double-check he hadn't missed something; all the while Ramia stood vigilant.

* * *

Zabuza stood in the centre of the room, Kubikiribochou held out in front of him as he slowly moved through his Kenjutsu kata. His movements, while not fast, were perfectly controlled and measured, his footwork impeccable. He moved as if the world were in slow motion, slicing through the crowd of invisible enemies around him and grinning with his pointed smile as their translucent blood splattered over his form. Suddenly though his ears twitched and his enormous cleaving sword was sent spinning across the room to embed in the wall. It would have embedded in the intruder's face if they hadn't leapt to the side at the last moment.

"Wow, so sensitive." Zabuza growled as his eyes opened to see the same little brat that had helped Kakashi in their earlier fight that caused him to be laid up for a weak. Even now his muscles hadn't quite recovered from Haku's death-simulating technique; he was good enough to take on any Genin though.

"If this is an assassination it is the poorest one I've ever seen." Naruto made no sudden movements as he put on a placating smile, pulling his hood down and slowly brushing a hand through his spiky locks.

"My Sensei had a theory you were alive; I just wanted to see if it was true." Suddenly though Naruto froze, a slight gulp escaping his throat as a very sharp and very cold senbon was pressed up against what he knew to be a vital point on his neck. "And that would answer my other question about the hunter-nin." He slowly craned his neck and gave an unconvincing smile to the dark-haired boy behind him, his eyes crinkling into slits as a bead of cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

"I don't know if you're an idiot, or have some kind of death wish Gaki, but it was stupid just walking in here. Where's your Sensei? Where's the Copy Ninja?" Naruto shrugged, again making sure to do it slowly as the every present reminder of his swift death continued to be held to his neck.

"As far as I know, back at Tazuna's house." Zabuza rose a non-existent eyebrow at that; did Konoha just send their Genin on suicide runs now?

"How did you even find this place?" Zabuza questioned gruffly as he walked over to retrieve his blade from the concrete wall.

"Gatou made a note of all your hide-outs around the country; from there it was a process of elimination until I found you here." Again Zabuza's brow rose questioningly at the statement.

"You, singular?" Naruto nodded again and Zabuza let out a brusque chuckle before going back over what the blonde had said. "Gatou sold us out to you?" This time Naruto slowly shook his head before explaining.

"Not quite, although if it means anything… he was going to." Zabuza scrutinesed the currently captive blonde before making a vague dismissive motion with his hand. Instantly the hunter-nin took their senbon from his neck and moved to stand next to Zabuza, letting Naruto give an internal sigh of relief. He was rather surprised to find the Hunter-nin to be a rather effeminate-looking boy with long dark hair and suspiciously kindly brown eyes wearing an all too pink kimono and dark choker. Hell, if Naruto hadn't done the research on the female form for his puppets he might have mistaken him for a girl.

"Explain." Zabuza cut off his musing with a rough response and Naruto smiled placating again; even if it didn't seem to help there was no harm trying.

"Gatou is currently rather disposed so I'm afraid he's no longer viable as a pay check." At Zabuza's clear irritation Naruto was rather glad he hadn't led with that. "However…" he quickly interjected as the former swordsman looked ready to get a little stab-happy with his blade "…he was planning on double-crossing you anyway; he's been in correspondence with Kiri Hunter-nin for the past few days." He produced a set of papers from one of his jacket pockets and slid them across the floor. They were completely and utterly fake of course, but Naruto honestly wouldn't have put it past the ruthless little businessman.

Zabuza huffed as he flicked through the letters disinterestedly, however it only appeared that way. Underneath he was simmering with rage at the planned betrayal by his contractor. The little runt was lucky somebody had gotten to him before Zabuza did else the man wouldn't have made his passing quick, or all that pleasant. Finally he tossed them to the floor, no longer having used for them; Haku seemed a little dismayed at this and Naruto got the impression Zabuza wouldn't be the one tidying up.

"What's your point Gaki, why even bother telling us this?" Eventually Zabuza would have realised Gatou wasn't checking up on them anymore and discover he was dead. In his mind he saw no reason for the opposing team to risk themselves this way just to inform him.

"Oh no reason, it was just a bonus; my teammates are no good to me dead after all." Zabuza raised a brow but didn't comment; there was something about the kid's particularly ruthless streak that resonated with him. "No, the real reason I'm here is because of him." He lazily pointed at the fake hunter-nin who was in the process of picking up the sheets of paper strewn everywhere.

"Haku?" Said boy looked up in surprise to see Naruto lowering his arm and nodding with a congenial smile.

"Yes, if all possible I would like to spar with him; he seemed about my age but very strong. I thought it would be a good test for me." There was a long moment of silence before Zabuza burst out laughing, an unpleasant, barking sound that grated on the ears.

"You came all this way, went through the trouble of finding this place and risked your neck, all for a fight?" He laughed again, leaning back on a crate and propping his hands on his blade's hilt. "I think I'm beginning to like you kid." His gaze shifted to his young apprentice. "What do you say Haku; fancy a spar?" The boy blinked, surprised at being given the choice as he looked over at the blonde who was in the process of bringing his hood back over his hair.

"Just a spar?" Naruto grinned with his eyes closed, his hands coming up placating; it seemed like a less sincere gesture when his jacket covered up said hands to hide the movements of his fingers.

"Just a spar, all friendly; I won't even use my lethal poisons." Haku blinked; he had never really had a friendly spar with somebody of his on age group; being on the run with Zabuza never allowed for it. After a moment of consideration the edges of his lips quirked up and he nodded slowly causing Naruto's grin to grow. "Excellent."

* * *

Naruto bounced on his feet lightly, cracking his neck as he stood opposite Haku with a small smirk growing on his face. He felt excited; this would be the first time he could really test himself against someone other than Sasuke; the Uchiha was no fun because Naruto mostly knew what to expect. Haku was new, exciting and unpredictable and Naruto relished the challenge of the unknown. To his side Ramia silently swayed; he figured it would be best to have her out as the surprise wouldn't work on Haku anyway, the boy having seen the snake-based puppet before.

"Alright, get ready…" Naruto felt his muscles tense and he could barely keep his fingers from twitching as Zabuza set them off from the side of the clearing. They were lucky Zabuza's hideout was so far from Tazuna's house or this wouldn't have been possible. "…Go." Zabuza's arm came down and immediately both boys leapt into action in their own way. Haku sprang forward, his speed momentarily catching Naruto off guard before the blonde recovered and his hidden fingers became a blur of motion.

Ramia snapped in front of him, her body coiling around his own as the wooden construct took the hail of steel senbon that appeared in Haku's hands for fractions of a second. They did little to Ramia's tough skin and soon the puppet could respond in kind as its long, sharply clawed fingers suddenly detached from the hands. They flew outward toward the young Yuki, kept tethered to the puppet by long, prehensile cables that were textured like a carpenters file along the sides. If they scraped across Haku's skin they would easily tear through, leaving a large dose of poison in his bloodstream. Just because Naruto wasn't trying to be lethal didn't mean he discounted paralytics and muscle-relaxants.

The boy immediately sensed the danger and leapt away from the wildly whipping cables, knocking them off course with surprising ease using pinpoint senbon throws. Naruto's eyes narrowed in focus as he continued to manipulate Ramia into at least capturing the boy. However he was surprised as what appeared to be a large two meter by one meter thin block of ice rose from the ground in front of the Yuki, to which the boy immediately dived into. For a moment the blonde was so shocked by the unusual tactic that his fingers went slack, stopping Ramia in her tracks.

A moment later though and he winced as a small barrage of icy senbon began to litter his body. Ramia being wrapped around him protected his vitals but he did feel his left arm begin to clamp up, which was a bad thing considering he really needed his arms. Deciding he had left this fight out in the open too long Naruto surprised Haku, wherever he was hiding, by suddenly using Ramia as a springboard. The snake-like puppet wound under its puppeteer and uncoiled, launching the boy high into the air.

Now with an aerial view Naruto grinned as he spotted Haku hiding in the trees; he directed Ramia over to his position before landing on a tree branch himself, immediately moving further into the forestry. Suddenly it was the Yuki put on the defensive as the boy found himself dodging vicious tail-strikes that easily smashed through sturdy tree-trunks. Ramia wasn't a slow puppet by any means and her reptilian lower body allowed a range of movements that were both unpredictable and unexpected. It only got worse for Haku as the puppet began unleashing small salvos of what he immediately recognised to be medicinal senbon.

Fortunately for him they were much thinner and flimsier than his combat-grade ones and didn't fly perfectly straight through the air. This made them easier to dodge and their movements easier to predict; however it also made them more difficult to see and more than a few times the boy felt the breeze as they rushed past. All the while he couldn't find Naruto, the blonde seemingly having blended himself into the surroundings despite Haku knowing he should have been somewhere nearby. Haku panicked briefly as the tree he was on suddenly toppled due to Ramia's extending claws ripping through the base.

As he fell he glanced around to see the length of Ramia's tail open in its entirety; however where last time he had seen this happen it had been filled to the brim with kunai, it was now filled with senbon. This presented an entirely new range of danger as the senbon could be more tightly packed, resulting in there being hundreds more. Evidently this was supposed to be impossible to avoid but Haku surprised Naruto by once again creating another of his ice mirrors and mid-fall managing to angle his body into it. The hail of glinting weaponry hit nothing but tree bark and the backside of the slowly melting ice-construct.

It was only Naruto's instincts that saved him as he rolled off the underside of the branch he was hiding under, watching in surprise as a small line of senbon implanted themselves where he had just been. However moments later, at speeds Naruto couldn't hope to match, Haku appeared below him, catching him with a kick to the chin that launched him further into the forest before rolling to a stop in a slightly more open clearing. Before he could catch his wind or his bearings he found himself surrounded on all sides by a dome of the very same annoying ice mirrors.

"I'm afraid this is where the spar ends Naruto-san; this is my ultimate technique." Haku's emotionless voice intoned as he stepped into the mirrors, appearing in all of them; however Naruto could detect the hint of amusement in his tone. Naruto grunted as he cracked his neck, but there was an undeniable smile on his features as his fingers worked furiously. As much as his body hurt he couldn't deny that this entire experience wasn't exhilarating; he had no intention of stopping here.

"I'm afraid I have no ultimate techniques Haku-san, you'll just have to put up with this." Thankful his enemy was one he could keep talking, Naruto's smile broadened as Ramia suddenly burst through one of the mirrors, shattering it like glass as her full bulk crashed through the normally sturdy ice construct. Haku wasted no time in both regenerating the lost mirror and launching a wave of his signature weapon at the blonde. Naruto managed to surprise him once again though as Ramia wrapped around his form, the compartment previously filled to the brim with senbon opening up to allow him to climb inside.

Suddenly and for the first time, Haku found somebody trapped within his ice dome that he couldn't touch. He launched hundreds of hastily made senbon he created with his Hyoton Chakra but they all either bounced off Ramia's sturdy body or missed because of the puppet's constantly swaying motions. Haku could already feel the draining effect of his Jutsu setting in so he began quickly leaving the mirrors, flashing between them at undetectable speeds to slash at the puppet's joints instead. This seemed to have a much greater effect as quickly Ramia began to lock up, a moment later ejecting the blonde puppeteer inside.

Haku wasted no time as he peppered the boy with needles, to the point where he looked as though he was been through an entire acupuncture session. However once he was motionless on the ground the dark-haired boy breathed a sigh of relief, cautiously approaching the blonde and keeping a wary eye on his puppet. It was this caution that allowed Haku to just spot the tiniest flashes of blue light reflected in one of his slowly melting mirrors and jump back into one just as the Naruto on the ground exploded into a hail of senbon like some kind of human flechette round.

Safe behind his mirrors Haku quickly spotted the blonde hiding behind Ramia and flashed into the dome, holding a senbon directly to the boy's neck in a much less steady grip than a few minutes before. Both boys were breathing a lot heavier, exhaustion and fatigue beginning to set in, but both had their own smiles on their face as Naruto finally raised his hands.

"Okay… I surrender." When Haku took the senbon away Naruto happily leaned against his puppet, regulating his breathing as he grinned. "I thought I had you there at the end." He had kept the shattered body of Dami after fighting Sasuke just in case and while it was now useless as a puppet he could still just apply a henge to it, hoping to catch somebody off guard. Haku just smiled as the dome around them melted away, revealing Zabuza standing just outside, an intrigued look on his bandaged face.

"It was close, I admit." Was the only response he got from the Yuki as he too caught his breath; the blonde had given him quite the run around in the forest.

"Well it was certainly interesting to watch, I'll give you guys that." Zabuza decided to weigh in, Kubikiribochou slung over one shoulder casually. "But as fun as it's been I'm afraid this is going to have to be goodbye. If what those letters you showed me says is true, the Hunter-nin are right on our trail. We're going to have to leave now to build up a suitable lead again." Naruto just nodded understandingly as he straightened up and sealed Ramia away into a quickly hidden scroll.

"Fair enough; I still enjoyed the opportunity." He offered his hand to Haku who shook it politely with a small grin.

"Likewise; I hope we can meet again when both our abilities have matured." Naruto nodded, actually finding that he would enjoy that. Zabuza on the other hand just gave a barking laugh as he grabbed Naruto's hand rather roughly.

"Count me in for that; you two are going to be damn strong, I can already tell." Naruto again smiled at the praise; he was unused to it and it felt good. Despite many in his village recognising his skill as prodigious it was only reluctantly said and never where they thought he could hear them.

"Good luck then." Naruto offered as parting words before watching Zabuza and Haku quickly take their leave. He took a few more moments to collect himself, make sure there was as little evidence of the conflict as possible and leave. He found Tsunami exactly where he had left her, drugged in an alleyway in the village proper, and quickly gave her a counter-toxin.

"Ah, ara? What happened?" The poor housewife looked about in confusion as she returned to the waking world only to see Naruto looking down at her with a concerned expression.

"Are you alright Tsunami-san? When I came to help you with shopping you collapsed in the street. I took you over here to rest but you still look rather flushed." Naruto offered with all the sincerity he could muster. Tsunami shook her head a few times, trying to clear it off the fog that had descended over his thoughts before smiling.

"I-I think I should be fine now; thank you for the concern Naruto-san; you're such a nice young boy." Naruto smiled at her as he offered his hand to help her up.

"Are you sure Tsunami-san? You can never be too careful." The woman just smiled at him though as if to dissuade his concerns.

"I'm fine now Naruto, now let's go back to the house. I'm sure my family and your team are worried about us." She said kindly before moving off, missing Naruto's much less innocent smile as he followed after her.

"Of course, of course."

* * *

Haku and Zabuza quickly sped through the trees on their way out of Nami no Kuni, only briefly stopping when they needed to get some water. However as they did so Haku noticed Zabuza still wore a grin underneath the wrappings he wore around his mouth.

"Naruto-san was interesting wasn't he?" Haku offered to break the strange silence that had come over them since leaving.

"Yeah, interesting Gaki alright, especially for a Konoha brat; I was surprised he came so close to actually beating you." Haku smiled at Zabuza's gruff assertion as he he puled up his sleeve slightly, revealing a small scratch down his forearm.

"Actually, I believe if Naruto-san were actually trying to kill me, the outcome would have been very different." It had taken a lot for Haku to fight despite his arm being partially-numbed. Zabuza took one look at the small wound that would have been easily enough for a lethal poison to get into Haku's system before laughing loudly, looking down at the small note Naruto had slipped him in their handshake.

"Like I said Haku; interesting kid."

* * *

A young, mousy brown-haired man cautiously walked into the old warehouse on the edge of town that had been abandoned shortly after Gatou took over the nation. He breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted others already there, milling about and quietly talking among themselves. From the number of people there he could only assume he was one of the last to arrive and was proven right shortly after as the previously darkened and dimly lit warehouse suddenly erupted in light as somebody turned the power on. Most people winced at the sudden change but those that had only just arrived and eyes hadn't adjusted gasped at what they saw.

Suspended from the ceiling of the massive building was none other than Gatou; his arms held out to either side by the wires supporting him. The man was obviously still alive but his previously nice and well-tailored clothing was torn and dirties, his face bruised and bloodied. When everybody else realised what they were seeing the entire warehouse erupted into excited and shocked chatter as people tried to work out what was going on and just who had done this.

"Do you like my present?" Suddenly all the conversations died at once as a loud, but still unusually casual voice spoke up over them all. It was quickly revealed to belong to a hooded individual sitting in a darker corner of the warehouse, his features mostly shrouded by the darkness.

"What is this?!" A braver resident of the nation called out to the shrouded figure only to have him cock his head slightly.

"Like I said; it is my present to the people of Nami no Kuni; Gatou of Gatou Shipping and Transport delivered to you so you can see justice done." The warehouse erupted into whispers and voices again and the figure seemed perfectly content to allow them to continue until the same man called out again.

"We were told Gatou left the country!" The figure in the darkness just smiled, his white teeth visible even in the darkened corner.

"And yet he's right here, above you all; how curious." The man seemed to fall quiet at that as none of the collected people seemed to have anything to say. They were all only here because of notes subtly distributed around the village telling them that if they came here at this time they would be rewarded.

"Is this the change?" A woman spoke up from near the back of the hall, holding up a small white note most of the assembled recognised. The figure smiled again, nodding once in confirmation.

"That was you?" Another voice, and another nod to answer him before silence descended again and the figure finally deigned to speak.

"This is a turning point for your nation and as I see it there are a few directions you could take your newfound freedom; none of which are easy." There were a few more whispers at that but they quietened down quickly as the figure raised a hand; he had already gained their complete attention. "You could try and build your nation up to what it once was, but with the financial instability created under Gatou's regime it would be difficult. Eventually you would need loans from a larger nation and suddenly you would be placing yourself under a different kind of slavery; one of debt." Again the crowd broke out in nervous chatter and the man simply waited for them to quieten.

"You could also try to seize Gatou's assets, try and live your way through that; although I assure you the man was quite brilliant in hiding what he owned; you wouldn't get far." This time there was silence and the figure smiled. "Thirdly, you could abandon Nami, try to take a life for yourself elsewhere; with the completion of Tazuna's bridge this will become a real possibility. Personally though I see this as the coward's way out." Finally somebody in the crowd was brave enough to speak out in a frustrated tone.

"Then what would you suggest?!" The Cheshire-like grin hidden in the shadows only grew as the figure suddenly stepped out into the light, hood still drawn so they couldn't see his face. However many instantly recognised from his height that he couldn't be all that old.

"I'm glad you asked; I know the way to return Nami to its original glory without you ever once having to ask for the support of another nation. As long as you agree to give me 0.1% of the nation's earnings, a trifling amount, I can give you this knowledge." The people looked amongst themselves nervously; this felt like making a deal with the devil. However they were a nation of fisherman and farmers; anybody who was a threat to Gatou was killed off, leaving nobody who could be really classified as qualified to lead the nation.

"You're just a kid!" The figure didn't see who called out but he seemed unconcerned by it nevertheless.

"A 'kid' that currently owns majority share in Gatou Shipping and Transport; It would be simple enough to dilute my stock amongst the nation, giving you all the money you needed to re-build." That seemed to quieten the man only for another to speak up.

"If you have that, why give it to us for so little in return?" In truth 0.1% of an entire country's earnings was hardly a small amount, but it paled in comparison to a company like Gatou's.

"Because, admittedly, there is something else I want in return. Something that I'm in much greater need of then money. That is information. Once rebuilt Nami will quickly become a hub of shipping lanes and trade lines, so naturally a lot of information will pass through here." He smiled serenely as he leaned against a large, long abandoned crate. "And that is all I ask; Nami no Kuni will be back to its former strength within a year. Guaranteed. And in return, you'll be my ears. Sound good?"

They looked uncertain and spoke in hushed, nervous whispers but the figure already knew what their decision would be. His cards were on the table and they had seen their choices; it had already happened; they just didn't know it yet.


	7. A slow unravelling

**Do I or don't I? it's not so much the question, but the answer is it not?... unfortunately that answer's still no.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"__When you have strings, everybody pulls you here and pulls you there." - Fuzzy Zoeller_

* * *

Naruto opened the door to his apartment and stepped through with a thoughtful expression, his mind a hive of activity as he instinctually stepped over old cups of ramen and a broken, disused puppet he had never gotten around to shifting. He collapsed into the comfy swivel chair he had managed to find out behind the apartment block and kept in front of his work bench. However right now his eyes weren't on the odd mechanisms and stray puppet components strew across the wooden surface, but blankly staring ahead as he was wrapped up in his own thoughts.

The mission to Nami had certainly been both an eye-opening and enlightening experience, in many aspects. In truth it was his very first mission, D-ranks excluded for obvious reasons, and it had taught him many things he didn't know. He had learned what was necessary and unnecessary and would begin to organise his pockets and sealing scrolls accordingly. He would also begin to carry around sealing scrolls capable of carrying human bodies so a bounty wouldn't slip through his fingers. With the new arrangement with Nami no Kuni he now wasn't exactly hurting for money; on the contrary he now had more than he knew what to do with, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

On a similar vein, having both Ramia and Dami destroyed on the same mission told him that he either needed to get faster at fixing his puppets or he needed to bring spares. He wouldn't always have the grace of a few days between conflicts and as Sasuke's fight with him had shown he only had limited uses without his puppeteering. He absently looked down at the senbon launcher on his wrist, another thing he would be upgrading and working with due to how effective it had shown to be making up for his body's limitations. He would also be upgrading all his puppets to include senbon after seeing how effective it had made Ramia.

Another eye-opening fight was with Haku, the boy had beaten him, the very first time Naruto had tasted defeat. He couldn't say he was disappointed by it though; under different circumstances it may have been fatal but as a friendly spar it simply pointed out his flaws. Namely, it brought to light his body's weakness and his dependence on puppets. Training in Taijutsu would surely fix that but to be honest Naruto wasn't one for physical exertion; he would rather find another way to overcome this particular problem. He left his mind to mull it over in the background as it moved onto more relevant thoughts.

That brought Naruto onto his final, and possibly largest revelation; his new information network. A grin slowly spread his cheeks as he suddenly pushed off his workbench, spinning about on his chair in his excitement. He couldn't believe he had actually done it; his very first mission and he actually had managed to build a small, effective network of spies. Sure it was in its infancy and currently he couldn't exactly control what information was brought to him but once again Naruto trusted that he would come to learn the best way to handle it, as he always had done.

* * *

Naruto groaned piteously into his hands and he laid his head against his workbench, however it hadn't been used as such in a while. Right now it was stacked with books on politics, economics, and business management; they were subjects Naruto had a decent grasp of thanks to the academy, but apparently not to the level where he could manage an entire country. He groaned again and slowly banged his head into the wood; it had been almost two weeks since the mission to Nami and Naruto only found his workload growing by the day.

At the time he thought it ingenious having his spies deliver him his information and money through the deliveries between Nami and Konoha that had started up again once the bridge was completed. What he hadn't expected was for them to bring him _everything. _Report after report built up on his desk and he just couldn't handle it all; he was only thirteen! He honestly felt as though he had bitten off more than he could chew here. All the same though he suffered through the sleepless night as he had done through the academy and he bore with it; hoping that it would get better.

He was suffering though; he hadn't even had the chance to make any of the modifications for his puppets he wanted, nor could he even really practise much. His fingers were used to directing dangerous and deadly puppets, not writing business reports and economy statements. Naruto had a natural flair for on-the-fly planning and tactics, long term strategy was never a particularly strong suit of his. The shadows under his eyes were only growing and he was becoming increasingly irritable with his lack of sleep; or at least, his greater lack of sleep than usual.

He needed help; however it wasn't as though he could simply walk up to the Hokage and tell him he had decided to take over Nami no Kuni on what amounted to a whim and now he was buckling under the work load. No, he needed discrete help from somebody who wouldn't divulge his secrets; someone who could be trusted.

"Argh!" In his frustration Naruto sent a pile of documents crashing to the floor, breathing heavily as he just stared at the now scattered pages like his gaze could set them on fire. The people he knew and had any extended interaction with could be counted on both hands, the one's he could implicitly trust? There weren't any; Naruto had a guarded heart and didn't put his trust out there so easily and so far none had met the expectations. He sighed morosely as he began picking the sheets back up, his eyes heavy with exhaustion.

Perhaps if he brought his concerns to the people of Nami he had recruited? No, that wouldn't work; not after he had swooped in and saved them. He needed to maintain an image of being in control and that he knew what he was doing. It would have been perfect if only he actually _did_ know what he was doing. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a small yawn as he dumped the stack back on his work bench, now a glorified desk.

Okay, maybe not somebody he trusted, but somebody shy who, like him, didn't interact much with people and couldn't give away what he was doing? They would have to be intelligent, but naïve and trusting themselves. A political background would be ideal so they would actually know what they were doing and this wouldn't all be pointless. A clan child perhaps? His graduating year _was _full of them, however none that he had a great deal of interaction with. Ideally he would want a clan deeply embroiled in the village's politics, like the Yamanaka, or the Hyuuga…

* * *

"Hyah!" Hinata viciously struck at the training post, watching with concentrated, determined eyes as parts of the wooden pole splintered away at the touch of her Chakra-laced fingers. Again she struck it, vicious accuracy in each of her strikes; a palm thrust tore another chunk through the side. She watched in her enhanced visual state, the veins around her eyes bulging slightly, as each individual fragment of wood flew off like the beads of sweat on her forehead. Her footing changed as she shifted positions, lashing out to the side and taking another strip of wood for her effort before finally coming full circle and striking the post with a double-palmed hit that contained all her recent frustrations.

She had to become stronger, for her team, for her father, for her sister, for… _him. _She lashed out again, trying to clear her mind of it with physical exertion but it stuck with her. She had heard the news about what had happened in Nami from Kiba who in turn had heard it from Ino. Running into dangerous missing-nin? Having to help free a nation? All things she believed Naruto could do, but she herself felt so helpless for being unable to help him. She could see him running ahead of her, only ever seeming to get farther away while she wallowed in the shade.

"So this is the prowess of the Byakugan and the famous Jyuuken?" A very familiar and very unexpected voice cut into her internal thoughts. Sure enough when she suddenly whirled around Naruto was watching her from the branch of a tree with a small smile, a smile Hinata had always wanted to see directed her way. However now that it was she found her thoughts becoming a jumbled mess, her cheeks flaming up and becoming red and her hands nervously coming together in front of her, her fingers twiddling absently.

"N-Naruto-kun!" She squeaked, her Byakugan deactivating, for all the help it had done her noticing him when she was so focused on her own thoughts and the post in front of her; speaking of which…

"I never realised it could be this vicious." Confused, Hinata turned to look at the post, only to widen her eyes in surprise. The thick wooden pole was practically shredded, shards of wood and dust littering the ground around it while the top half hung limp and pathetic by a few straining flakes of bark.

"I ah, well, I mean…" Hinata found that it she averted her gaze a bit it became slightly easier; however a moment later and Naruto was right in front of her, still regarding her with that easy, seldom seen smile. His hood was down which was also a rarity in the academy and Hinata was briefly entranced by the way his hair swayed slightly in the wind. "Yes, Naruto-kun?" She finally managed, not without a great deal of effort; however the boy seemed more amused than anything.

"Actually Hinata I had come to find you and ask for your help; but if you're busy training…" He trailed off and turned to go only for Hinata's body to act on reflex and grab his hand; a moment later though and she realised what she had done and quickly released it like it was burning hot.

"No! No… I-I'm not busy. What do you need help with Naruto-kun?" She uttered in a quiet and withdrawn voice; however internally she was rather proud for achieving that much. Naruto seemed to regard her for a moment and she bit her lip for a single terse moment before he smiled and turned back to her, allowing her to breathe an internal sigh of relief.

"Alright, if you insist. I actually recently decided that I needed a goal for the future beyond merely becoming an excellent Shinobi." He started in a casual tone, his hands moving a bit for effect. "Being a strong ninja is fine and all, but it doesn't really give you anything to do when you're not on missions. But I'm not really one to settle though so I figured, why not aim for the top and try to become Hokage?" Hinata nodded enthusiastically at that, her hands gripping the front of her bulky jacket; she could see him do it and knew he had it in him. She had always admired that even through what she saw as unfair treatment and attitudes towards him Naruto had never given up.

He had just quietly soldiered on until she even heard people begin to call him a prodigy! Hinata knew better though, she knew just how hard Naruto must work for everything he did. The term 'prodigy' implied that a person didn't have to put any effort into what they did, they were so good at something that practicing it was practically a waste of time. This was not true for Naruto, his skills and feats were not the result of any natural gift, it was the result of a lot of effort that no one ever saw, and thus assumed never happened. She saw it in the hands he bandaged up to cover his training injuries. In the shadows under his eyes others might see as unattractive she only saw his dedication and perseverance. He even went so far as to harm his body, as she had seen when she occasionally watched him in his apartment experimenting with poisons for his puppets. She wished for the past few years to have even a shred of that determination.

"I think you could do it." She uttered, for a minute thinking that Naruto hadn't heard her until he smiled thankfully.

"That makes one person at least; I told the Hokage and he set me some kind of test, likely just as busy-work to keep me occupied so I can't pester him." He laughed to himself but Hinata caught the twinkle of disappointment in his eye and it immediately made her stand up a little straighter.

"I-Is that what you need my help with?" Naruto seemed to snap out of it and turned back to her, a bright grin spreading over his features quickly that almost instantly set Hinata's face aflame and her heart into flutters.

"Actually yeah; I'm still not used to a lot of this political stuff and I thought someone like you, with a background in a big clan like the Hyuuga, might have a better idea. All I really need is some insight, or a few pointers but I mean, if you don't think-" Naruto was both surprised and cut off as Hinata quickly interjected.

"I can do it!" Her eyes were screwed shut and her hands were balled into fists just in front of her as she practically forced the words out before cracking open her pale eyes and immediately looking down, suddenly embarresed over her outburst. "I-I mean, I think I can do it." Her hands came up and she gently poked her index fingers together, finding Naruto's vibrant blue eyes difficult to meet.

"That's great Hinata, what do you think of these?" When she looked up again Naruto was holding a small bundle of papers; even a cursory glance told her they looked rather complicated. However they at least seemed familiar, similar to the ones she was forced to read over and over as a child, and continued to be as her father fervently tried to prepare her for her role as the clan head. If she was honest with herself though, as much as she would like to try and unite the two branches of her family, her younger but more promising sister would likely take the position.

"W-Well, they don't seem too complicated Naruto-kun." She looked at them again, finding a blend of financial reports, various statements from businesses and other such documents associated with managing a city or even a small country. "H-Hokage-sama gave you these?" Naruto quickly nodded, running a sheepish hand through his spiky locks and causing Hinata's eyes to glaze slightly at the almost bishounin action. She could honestly say it was more than just Naruto's determination that she felt drawn too.

"Yeah, apparently he made up some hypothetical country or something and asked me to managed it as though it were real. I'm sure he's just trying to keep me busy but I still want to do it to the best of my ability." He explained only to have Hinata nod absently as she flipped through them. In her concentration she missed Naruto's eyes narrow ever so slightly before returning to their previous warm appearance. Really she was just amazed at the Hokage's dedication to detail, even if it was just busy-work. Then again she shouldn't be underestimating the village's leader.

"W-Well, if this is all then I think I should be able to help you Naruto-kun." She nodded to affirm her statement as she handed Naruto back the stack of papers; it was all worth it for the beaming smile he gave her.

"Thanks a lot Hinata, that's a load of my mind; if I want to be Hokage then failure's not an option right?" He smiled again as she gave another hurried nod; her fingers had stopped fidgeting at some point and throughout the conversation she seemed to become more open, like a turtle emerging from its shell. "Because of this; if there's ever something you need help with, don't hesitate to ask me okay?" He gave her a quick grin as she nodded her agreement and turned to leave, disappointing the blue-haired Hyuuga slightly. However he took a few steps only to turn back, as if thinking better of it.

"Oh, and could you not tell the Hokage about this? I don't want him to know I had help. He might declare the results void then and just give more pointless busy-work. Okay?" When he spoke he had such a warm and welcoming smile Hinata couldn't help but melt as she found her eye-lids becoming lidded, her head nodding on its own.

"Of course Naruto-kun." She got the fright of her life as Naruto suddenly moved toward her, far closer than he had ever been before, making her cheeks redden immediately. It didn't end there though; after what seemed like a moment of hesitation on his part he leaned in and quickly wrapped his hands around her in a brief hug. That finally proved to be a bit too much for the Hyuuga heiress and by the time he let go her body had gone slack and she fell limply to the ground, a dazed but intensely satisfied grin occupying her lips.

Naruto stepped back from the collapsed girl, a worried look briefly passing over his features before he realised she was actually unconscious. The look slipped from his face to show his usual impassive mask, his cold, lidded eyes glancing over the girl before smirking down at the papers in his hands.

That was far too easy.

* * *

The young puppeteer lay on the rail of the little red bridge that ran over the small stream through training ground three. He, Sakura, and Sasuke were currently waiting on their chronically late Sensei for their daily training or mission. After the debacle in Nami no Kuni they had briefly been demoted to D-ranks once more but Naruto was sure they would be back on the good missions soon enough. He had been making sure their team dynamic was as good as it could be so Kakashi had little reason to keep them away from C-ranks.

Normally in this situation he would be tinkering with some small mechanism or going through one of his many dexterity exercising like flipping a ryo coin through his fingers. However right now his mind was far too abuzz with activity for such mundane tasks so he had instead taken to resting his head in his hands and looking up at the sky as he mulled them over. However it did somewhat irk him that he seemed to be doing far much more thinking than, well, _doing _lately.

Hinata had been a massive help in organising Nami no Kuni, suggesting he begin to delegate various tasks within the spy network, although she didn't know it as such, to others. He had taken this on board and created a kind of hierarchy within the group through repeated correspondence using the merchant-caravan method. It was fairly reliable as trips between Konoha and Nami only took a few hours and the caravans came in a near constant stream as they made round trips. Currently all of the information he received from the country was routed through a woman called Rikai, a housewife before Gatou had her husband and eldest son killed for refusing to pay their taxes.

She had been elected as somewhat of an intermediary between Nami and him even before the reorganisation as she had been a well-known activist within the village during Gatou's regime. She would do the best she could to provide orphans and other runaways board for the night using the money she had been left by her late husband. Naruto rather admired her ability to continue helping her country during their nation's strife and had been glad to take her on as a direct subordinate. Now she was the one organising what information was or was not relevant to him which took a great deal of pressure off his shoulders. He couldn't exactly say he trusted the woman but he knew, that she knew he was the best hope for their country.

At that moment though his thoughts were de-railed as Kakashi appeared on the bridge uncharacteristically early, a rather unwarranted smile crinkling his eye as he looked at his assembled students. Instantly Naruto's eye was drawn to the slips of paper he was carrying as the man dropped off the railing.

"Good morning everyone; I know this may be a bit sudden, but I've entered you all for the chuunin exams." He took a moment to take in Sakura's shocked expression as well as Naruto and Sasuke's interested looks. "These are the application forms you need to fill out; don't worry though, it's a completely voluntary affair. If you don't feel ready then there's no pressure for you to participate." He flourished the slips a moment as he regarded each of his genin in turn.

Sasuke was sure to want to enter, he would naturally see this as a challenge that he needed to overcome. As much as Kakashi hated to agree with Naruto on these things, the boy was a tad bit predictable. Sakura he believed would also enter; no doubt she would agonize over it for a while but she would come to the conclusion that advancing to chuunin would be the only way to stay with Sasuke. Naruto on the other hand; he was and continued to be an enigma for the usually perceptive Jounin. Normally he would say the boy would be thrilled to have an opportunity to not only advance but also show off his puppeteering.

However ever since the mission to Nami no Kuni he just wasn't sure what to make of the boy anymore. He seemed even more secretive than usual, drawing away from the team when he had been slowly integrating more and more into it. Kakashi would give up one of his Icha Icha books to know what was going through that boy's mind. Hell, he wasn't even sure if the blonde even wanted to get promoted; he seemed more interested in simply developing his art.

However contrary to Kakashi's beliefs at that moment Naruto couldn't be more excited, a hidden grin spreading over his lips as he took the application form. This represented a great opportunity for him as the chuunin exams were an international event. He would finally be able to show the world his hard work. Who knew? Maybe even Sasori himself might take notice; the thought alone was enough to make Naruto eager. What's more, with the situation in Nami settling it presented a wonderful opportunity to test himself like he used to.

He nodded to himself slowly as he left the bridge, Kakashi having vanished off to wherever that man tended to go which was most likely to read his smut. He would build a new puppet, one equal to Ramia in abilty; it would finally give him the push he needed to learn how to manipulate Ramia fully with only one hand. Sure he only had a week to do it but Naruto always worked best under pressure. As he walked down the street, his mind already patching together ideas he had already had in the past and never gotten around to acting on, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Looking up he immediately spotted the cause in the form of a young boy around his age with rusty red hair and the coldest set of teal eyes he had ever seen. It was hard for his attention not to be drawn that way due to the boy's small stature and the comically large gourd he was carrying over his shoulder. There was also the small fact he seemed to have the kanji for love tattooed above his left eye in what could be mistaken for blood at first glance. The headband of Suna wrapped around the gourd gave away his allegiances and at the sight of the engraved hour-glass symbol he felt something in his blood stir.

Sunagakure, the original and supposedly only users of the puppeteering Ninja arts in the elemental nations. As they passed by, the red-haired boy not giving him a second glance, Naruto couldn't help but smirk; wouldn't Suna be surprised come these chuunin exams? However as he passed by he seemed to catch the eye of a boy just behind the one giving him the unsettling feeling. He was dressed up in a full-body suit and most noticeably had purple markings over his features. The warpaint seemed a bit archaic but Naruto ignored that in favour of the wrapped bundle slung over his back and the fingerless gloves her wore.

Then it was over and the two moved passed one another, Naruto returning his attention to the road and the boy returning a rather more nervous gaze to the boy with the gourd and the older girl walking next to them. For the first time in a long time though Naruto felt the stirrings of anticipation build within him; the chuunin exams had seemed inviting before. Now? Now he couldn't wait.

* * *

Sakura tittered nervously in front of Naruto's apartment door for a few minutes, occasionally bringing her hand up to knock only to hesitate and begin pacing again. This would be the first time entering a boy's home; she had always wanted that privilege to go to Sasuke but he always rebuked her attempts to get closer. She was also a little unnerved about how quiet Naruto's apartment building was; she had expected signs of other residents but there was nothing; it was almost as though the entire place was abandoned.

The only reason she was even here was because this was the third consecutive day that Naruto had missed team training and she had finally been sent over to get him. However Naruto unnerved her at the best of times, freaking her out at the worst; although in that respect she supposed he was a bit like Shino. She eventually mustered the courage to knock, only to hear sudden clattering from inside followed by the sound of too many bolts being drawn back before Naruto finally cracked the door open.

That was another reason he weirded Sakura out, he always seemed so paranoid and guarded yet at random moments he would suddenly open up and become amicable. It was like he could turn on normal human emotions at the flip of some internal switch and go from withdrawn and introverted to easy-going and friendly at the drop of a hat. Sometimes Sakura swore Naruto didn't even know what _he _wanted to be feeling and it was just confusing at the best of times.

"Oh, Sakura… hey." He greeted a little awkwardly as he rubbed his slightly bloodshot eyes; he seemed to have gained even deeper shadows than normal in the time she hadn't seen him. "What's up?" He finally offered, somewhat lamely in Sakura's opinion, as he fully opened the door. Immediately Sakura screwed her nose up as she saw the clutter that lined his floor. Old ramen tubs, which was evidently a favourite of Naruto's given the boy was holding one right now and seemed to be in the middle of eating, as well as random bits of wood or metal just littered the floor.

"What do you mean what's up? You missed three days of team training; I'm here to get you baka!" Sakura finally lost her temper, forgetting her earlier hesitance once she saw that Naruto didn't even seem to have a valid reason beyond just not coming. The boy just blinked before leaning out of the apartment and looking out one of the windows in the hall.

"Oh… right." He once again offered without much energy and looking into his apartment Sakura could see why. He had all his blinds and curtains closed so not a drop of natural light entered the place. It was no wonder he seemed so tired all the time and had no semblance of a natural sleep cycle if he spent so long in this place. It would also explain why he was so inexplicably pale considering they lived in one of the sunniest nations on the continent barring Kaze no Kuni.

"What have you even been doing all this time?" She couldn't believe Naruto hadn't slept in three days so he must have had some semblance or notion he was missing out on things; however he didn't seem too upset by it. All she got for her question though was a lame shrug as the boy slipped back into the apartment.

"Preparing for the Chuunin Exams." It was only as he turned that Sakura noticed the nasty-looking red markings running down one of his arms and part-way up his neck. They looked like a terrible rash but they were far-too defined from the skin to be that, Sakura's medical training let her know that much.

"What? By poisoning yourself?" After beginning the process of learning medical Ninjutsu and the knowledge that came with it, many of Naruto's absences in the academy and following appearances made a lot more sense to her. However the blonde just shrugged as if it was no big deal what he was doing to his body.

"Among other things…" Sakura just gaped as she followed him into the apartment, her earlier reservations pushed to the side by her shock. However anything she might have said were immediately forgotten as she stepped into what she supposed was once a living room. She had known even in the academy that Naruto had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with his puppeteering but it only really hit her then. Pages of drawings and schematics littered the walls and floor, cluttering up what appeared to be a workbench in the corner of the room.

"Y-You made all this?" Sakura had never been more creeped out in her life as she looked about the various puppets hanging from the walls, the ceiling or anywhere else Naruto could fit them. She could literally see the progression of his art as their faces and bodies became more defined and detailed, the woodwork becoming smoother and more professional. A few she even recognised from when he would sneak them into the Taijutsu spars in the academy only to get caught by the instructor.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up, noodles dangling from his mouth as he quickly pulled on his jacket, flipping the hood up in a practised motion so that a few locks of blonde hair hung out and shaded his eyes. "Oh, yeah; feel free to look around I guess." He managed after slurping up the food in his mouth; he obviously wasn't one for manners. However as he went about collecting the things he would need Sakura found her gaze drifting about all the same, at least until her eyes fell on a particular puppet.

Unlike the others it seemed only half-finished, suspended by wires as it gathered dust in a corner, apparently not having been touched in a while. Like Naruto's other combat puppet it had a sort of half-woman, half-animal theme to it with the body and face of a woman, although they were rather grotesque in their half-complete form. It only had one wing though and the opposite leg giving it a mal-formed, misshapen appearance that made it stand out from the others.

"What happened to that one?" As unsettling as she found Naruto sometimes he didn't seem like the type to simply give up on things like this; he always seemed so passionate about his puppets. Naruto poked his head out from around the bathroom door, toothbrush in his mouth, and only took a single glance at the puppet in question before giving it a dismissive wave.

"Hane? Ah she was a good concept at first; I like the idea of a puppet that could fly but would also be used for more than just recon. However it was too difficult a concept to put into practise; I couldn't the get the wings right to sustain flight without it becoming unwholesomely inefficient." He had a few puppets that were the same; what seemed to be good concepts at first only to find out they were useless practically. Sakura looked at the broken, unfinished puppet with a frown; it just seemed so out of place.

"Why keep her-" She caught herself quickly; she wouldn't refer to these things as people, it made her sound crazy "-it around then?" Naruto just shrugged as he slipped back into the bathroom.

"The failures are just as good as the successes; they at least show me what _not _to do." He emerged, looking his usual overly-clothed and pale self, although he now had bandages winding further up his left arm to hide the effects of the poison he was testing. "And who knows, I might get an idea later to make her work. Shall we go then?" Sakura nodded immediately, already feeling like she had spent too long inside Naruto's apartment. There was only so much crazy she could take in one day and Naruto alone was beginning to fill her quota.


	8. Fraying edges

**Still don'ts, no no, still don't preecciouss; we don't owns it precious, no we don'tses.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"__The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument." - Henry David Thoreau_

* * *

As Team Seven walked into the Academy for the first day of the chuunin exams Naruto stuck towards the back of the trio. If one didn't know them very well they might have thought he was on his own, just trailing behind a young couple. His hood was up as usual but for a change his orange-tinted goggles weren't hanging around his neck but actually up on his eyes. This, combined with the slight decline of his head and the way his hood shadowed his eyes, hid where he was looking so he was safe to scout about. He did this because the Suna team was not the only foreign group he had seen skulking around Konoha in the past few days and he wanted to learn as much about the competition as he could.

So as he saw his teammates turn off on the second floor to head toward the room marked 301 he almost wanted to sigh in disappointment. Honestly, he at least expected Sasuke to spot the Genjutsu; if nothing else but because he should have been familiar with the academy building and where room 301 was. He was quickly proven wrong though as Sasuke practically blurted out the presence of the Genjutsu, Sakura naturally going along with him as the blonde watched on from the end of the hall.

A bit of arrogant confidence Naruto could accept; it wasn't exactly out of character for the Uchiha. However when a young spandex'd youth offered to spar with Sasuke, right before an exam they knew nothing about, he drew the line.

"Ahem." Sakura nearly jumped as Naruto, who she had nearly forgotten about thanks to him trailing behind a good few feet as they walked to the academy, appeared behind them. The youth, who had identified himself as Rock Lee, took in the newcomer with his large and oddly round eyes and gave a bright, genuinely twinkling smile.

"Ah, you must be Uchiha Sasuke's other teammate. It is very nice to meet you!" Normally that would have come across as a fairly normal greeting, however with Lee's extremely exuberant attitude, flamboyant green clothing and shining bowl cut… let's just say Naruto took a subtle step back. "I was just asking your most hip teammate if he would like to pit his title as prodigy against me, a genius of hard work!" Naruto blinked once, although the gesture was lost with all the ways he was trying to hide his eyes, as Lee offered his hand; rather insistently too.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He offered somewhat blandly as he tried to dampen the over-enthusiastic hand shake before the bushy-eyed boy could dislocate his shoulder. "But if you'll excuse us, we have to go to the correct room now." Lee's smile seemed to waver a moment as his gaze flickered to Sasuke.

"But, we were to pit out flames of youth against one another." Naruto quickly broke the handshake, placing his hands in his pockets as he gazed lazily at the boy.

"We do not know what awaits us in the chuunin exams, needless injury in a spar would only hinder us. I'm sure if you are indeed a genius of hard work…" Naruto felt strange just saying the phrase "…then you would understand the importance of waiting for the opportune moment to put it to use. There will be ample opportunities within the exams themselves to fight Sasuke, just be patient." For a moment Lee seemed indecisive before his bright grin returned. With an enthusiastic nod he gave the trio an energetic thumbs up.

"You are right Naruto-san; truly your flames of youth burn-" Anything else the garishly dressed but amusing teen could say was cut off by a rather vicious chop to the back of the head by a girl of similar age with her brown hair styled into two buns, almost resembling panda ears.

"Shut it Lee, you're going to make us late at this rate!" The girl warned in a shrill, irritated voice before turning to team seven with an apologetic smile and a quick bow. "Sorry about Lee, you know his type." She poked herself in the temple and gave them an almost conspiratorial look. "He's a bit touched in the head." She motioned behind her congenially to the boy who, like Naruto, had been skulking at the back of their group. The eyes and the stiff posture, not to mention the long, traditionally styled hair, gave him away as a Hyuuga.

"I'm Tenten and he's Neji; I guess we'll see you guys in the chuunin exams. Good luck I suppose." The last part wasn't said with much energy and Neji seemed not to share the sentiment as he looked at the trio haughtily. Naruto knew the type, he had received many a similar look from the villagers when he was young; if he didn't let _that _get to him, ignoring this particular Hyuuga's look of distain was child's play. However for a second his pale eyes seemed rather intently focused on both Sasuke and Naruto before glancing away. At that the two teams parted ways, Tenten practically dragging Lee away while team seven headed for the other set of stairs.

"Why did you stop us?" Sasuke muttered as he walked to catch up with Naruto who was uncharacteristically leading them through the academy; mostly to stop them having impromptu conversations again.

"I already said why; we on't know what is waiting for us in room 301, tiring yourself out wouldn't have helped in any situation." Seeing that Sasuke didn't look particularly satisfied Naruto just sighed and turned his head to him. "Why? Did you think tall, green and bushy was going to offer much of a challenge?" It was a bit unfair as Naruto had no idea of the genin's abilities but as Sakura snickered at the nickname Sasuke seemed mollified. It caused the blonde to quickly shake his head; Sasuke was just too predictable sometimes. Reassure him of his own inflated self-image and he was content to ignore anything he saw as beneath him.

"Ah well done, you all made it." Kakashi drolled from behind them as they crested the stairs, surprising all three genin and causing them to nearly jumped up in shock.

"Ah Kakashi-Sensei don't do that!" Sakura shrieked as she held a hand to her chest, irritation clearly spreading across her reddened features.

"Hmm, did you say something Sakura?" Kakashi muttered as he raised an eye from his book, clearly trying to be irritating for the sake of it as he quickly lowered it to look at them. "But in any case it was a good thing all three of you came; if even one of you didn't, none would have been allowed to participate." That was an interesting nugget of information and briefly Naruto wondered if all villages did their chuunin exams like that. "Well, I came to wish my cute little genin all good luck, so ja ne." He gave a cheeky wave and his signature smile before vanishing into a small whirlwind of leaves, leaving three flustered genin behind.

They got over it quickly enough and made their way into the examination room; thankfully because they hadn't wasted time with Rock Lee they were relatively early so their entrance wasn't really noted. There were a few other teams milling about, mostly sticking in groups composed of their own villages. Naruto took the opportunity to break away from his teammates while they were distracted by all the new faces and seamlessly slip into a nearby group of Ame genin over by a wall. It was times like these his nondescript attire and lack of visible headband came in useful.

Soon he was able to simply watch people filter into the room slowly as the tense atmosphere became thicker and thicker with each new entrant. It was amusing to watch his teammates flounder a moment when they realised he had vanished but it was quickly overridden with irritation as the rest of their generation promptly arrived.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino's shrill squeak sounded out through the entire room, cutting any chat that there might have been as they all set their sights on the fresh meat. Kurenai's squad quickly joined Asuma's in drawing large amounts of attention to themselves. Naruto was content to keep his head low as he slipped through the crowd, not having to be nearby to hear what they were talking about. He could have fooled himself and said he was information gathering, but with nobody talking anymore save the rookies that would have come across fairly weak. In reality he was searching for anybody with an aura similar to that red-haired boy he had seen on the street before. Something told him to be wary around those types until he knew exactly what he was dealing with.

Eventually some grey-haired kid a few years their senior came over to tell the Rookies just what kind of a ruckus they were making. The others of his year group seemed to get the idea when they turned to the rest of the room and found practically everybody glaring at them; even Naruto couldn't resist joining in from the back. However as they quietened down and the general din of the room picked back up he slipped back through the throngs of people until he was right next to the little group. Apparently the newcomer, Kabuto if he heard right, was offering them information on the other participants; that was an opportunity Naruto couldn't pass up.

"So, who would you like information on?" Kabuto quietly asked as he slid his round glasses further up his nose. Sasuke looked ready to step in and ask but Naruto beat him to it as he silently slipped out of the crowd and appeared by the dark-haired boy's side.

"Everyone." More than a few of the rookie's jumped at his sudden appearance while Shikamaru just seemed mollified to finally spot him, having previously been looking for the elusive blonde enigma. Kabuto on the other hand merely started, blinking rapidly as he looked down at the deck of nin-cards in confusion.

"Sorry? Did you say everyone?" Naruto nodded curtly, a small smile flickering over his features as he looked up and pulled down his goggles.

"You said you had information on most of the chuunin participants, surely you would be willing to share it with your kohai? The more Konoha genin that pass the better for the village's image right?" Kabuto seemed to just gulp, not having expected this and nervously passed the cards between his hands.

"Well, you see…" Suddenly though it didn't seem to be an issue as he turned his hands over only to realise they were empty and Naruto was already flicking through the deck, looking at each card curiously and turning them over. "Hey wait, I need-" In a strange stroke of luck for the blonde though, Kabuto was suddenly forced to jump back as the Oto Shinobi he had previously insulted, albeit unintentionally, decided to attack. Naruto looked up to see Kabuto bend back from a rather clumsy strike from a hunched over boy wearing bandages around his face.

He blinked at the seemingly ineffective attack, as well as the odd contraption on the boy's arm Naruto's eyes were already trying to pick apart. A moment later and his curiosity was only piqued as Kabuto's cocky smile quickly turned into one of shock as his glasses cracked and he crumpled to the floor, vomiting violently. As the sound genin made some taunting remark the front of the room exploded into a cloud of dark smoke that quickly dissipated to reveal a set of stern-looking Shinobi.

"There will be no fighting in my exam hall, anyone found doing so will be immediately disqualified." Spoke the tall, bald man at the center of the new group in a gruff, no-nonsense voice; his long dark trench coat only added to his intimidating aura. Suitably cowed the sound trio melted back into the crowd, allowing Kabuto to try and pick himself back up. "Now welcome to the chuunin exams maggots, I am your worst nightmare, your first proctor, Morino Ibiki." And suddenly the entire room shuddered as the man smiled, a vicious gleam in his eyes.

In short order the chuunin proctors that had arrived with Ibiki ushered the assembled genin to their seats. Obviously they had gone to some trouble to make sure that all of the teams were as equally distributed from one another as possible. Naruto barely noticed though as he had figured out the trick to the info cards and was currently flicking through them leisurely. Of great interest to him was the Oto-nin that had attacked Kabuto, however when he located that particular card he found it frustratingly lacking, no doubt due to the small and new nature of their village.

He kept an ear out for the rules of the exam, having already worked out it would involve some kind of written challenge from the arrangement of the room. However the rules sounded rather standard so as he received the test he felt ready to begin, for all of four seconds. One look at the questions revealed they were incredibly advanced, only increasing in difficulty as the question number became larger. However, oddly enough when he thought back on the rule about the total points of the team allowing them to pass, he realised how ridiculously simple the exam was.

Luckily for him the first question was a relatively standard cryptograph sequence, mostly logic involved so he cracked it in short order before proceeding to turn over the exam and lean back in his chair. He got a few odd looks from the exam proctors at 'finishing' so quickly but he didn't get the big deal. Ibiki had clearly said that they would pass if none of their team received zero points, so as long as Sakura and Sasuke at least got one answer, which he was sure they were capable of, they had passed. He almost wanted to chuckle as he spotted a few genin almost tearing their hair out from the stress of the exam.

For a while he returned to flipping through the deck of info cards, trying to match names to faces as he glanced about at the genin he could see. As teams were eliminated by the proctors for cheating, which was slowly beginning to re-work his opinion of the test, he discarded their cards. As it became increasingly obvious that cheating was somehow supposed to be used to pass this test Naruto just scoffed to himself. Sure he could probably figure out some way of gathering the correct answers, but why risk a sure pass for a chance at being caught? Fools.

At one point he finally managed to leave his little world and notice the fact that Hinata was sitting next to him. She had at some point sidled a little closer to him on the bench during the exam and her exam paper was clearly angled towards him. He blinked, wondering why she would so blatantly cheat and risk her entire team's disqualification. He ignored it as best he could though, even when she kept nervously glancing across at him like she wanted to speak to him; another foolish idea in the middle of a heavily observed test.

Eventually though the time passed and the last fifteen minutes were upon them, Ibiki clearing his voice at the front to gain their attention. By this point the room had thinned to contain less than half its original occupants, drastically reducing the number of cards in Naruto's deck. It certainly made finding specific information easier, which he continued to do as Ibiki explained the rules of the last question. It was foolish really, the number of people that were unnerved by the simple ultimatum, especially the ones who did not belong to Konoha. Ibiki had no kind of control whether or not they could re-take the exams if they were not in Konoha.

Even for the Leaf-nin it was silly; the man had clearly offered them the choice between having the chance to continue on or just give up. Only people who had no confidence in their skills would choose the latter and even if Naruto did fail the question and was barred from future chuunin exams, there were other ways to be promoted. There would always be other chances to find the reception and opportunities to show off his skill; and if there weren't, he would make them. However it seemed the last forty-five minutes of cheating their way through the exam hadn't done much for the other participants' nerves.

Hands began rising left right and center as people lost their confidence and opted out, taking their teammates with them. However it obviously wasn't happening at a rate Ibiki approved off as he decided to speed things up a little by shaking their confidence further. Naturally he chose the person he saw as least affected by his speech, likely because it appeared Naruto was ignoring him, content to flick through his cards. In fact, as the bandana-clad man pointed in his direction, a challenging smirk on his features, he didn't even look up.

"What about you there, sunshine in the hood; are you really stubborn enough to risk both you and your teammates' careers? You'll have no chance to advance ever again, always stuck with D-ranks and C-ranks until the day you retire." There was an unnerving silence as Naruto seemed to ignore the man, still flicking through the cards absently. After a period of about twenty seconds though, when a pin could have been heard dropping, Naruto flicked out a single card and looked at it with interest.

"Morino Ibiki; what do you know, the cards have information on the proctors as well." The dark-clothed man at the front of the room narrowed his eyes slightly, tilting his head slightly to try and get a better look at the card in question. "Head of the torture and interrogation department, specialising in psychological torture." Ibiki's eyes widened slightly, worried the genin was about to give the game away when he surprised the man by groaning and leaning back, looking genuinely morose as he slapped the cards down.

"Damn, I guess with that kind of no-nonsense, toughening career you would be the type to hate reckless choices grounded on nothing but stubborn pride. Plus, as a Konoha Shinobi I bet you must hate the idea of needlessly endangering comrades, right?" He sighed again, a long, drawn out noise that only served to enhance the tense atmosphere in the room. Ibiki was watching him intently at this point, confused to where he was going with this but keeping his features schooled. "Damn…" Naruto leaned forward, looking as though he was about to stand up "…I guess I oughta-"

"I-I quit!" Suddenly though, just as it looked like Naruto was about to forfeit a young Ame genin at the back of the room stood up, his hand raised as he nervously declared his intentions.

"I quit too, screw the risk!" Another genin, this one from Konoha, also stood up and soon it seemed like the entire room was clamouring to give up in the exams. None of them noticed as Naruto smirked victoriously, subtly sitting back down as they were all ushered out of the room along with their teams. By the end of it all the exam room had been practically decimated, only seventeen teams remaining. Ironically the only person to notice Naruto sitting back down was Hinata, someone who by all rights looked as though they were about to quit anyway.

Naruto simply leaned back in his seat, a small smirk playing across his features that only Ibiki noticed. The scarred Jounin could only internally gape at what he assumed was a green genin; however he was quickly re-evaluating his opinion. The boy had used the opportunity he had presented him to completely psyche out the competition. Hell, if they weren't in the middle of the chuunin exams Ibiki might have requested the boy be sent over to T&I for a bit of formal training in psychological warfare.

When it finally seemed like everybody who was still there was there to stay, Ibiki cleared his throat, quickly launching into a small speech about the significance of their choice. There were a few outraged cried from the remaining participants about the supposed pointlessness of it all, blissfully ignoring the lack of significant opposition now. In a way Naruto was almost inclined to agree; after all he could have bluffed his way through that initial test by simply walking in, sitting down and then not moving for the remainder of the test. However it was a flimsy loophole at best and he assumed most genin didn't have his lack of care for promotion.

Just as Ibiki was reaching the end of his tirade, having already revealed the hideous scarring on his head, an energetic purple ball smashed through the window. It quickly unravelled into a large banner held in place by precisely thrown Kunai, leaving many in the room to gape at the scantily clad woman who had emerged from the bundle, excitedly pointing at all the genin hopefuls.

"This is no time to be celebrating!" The woman gave the entire room a chilling smile, even if most of the men in the room weren't exactly focused on her face. "I am Mitarashi Anko, your second proctor!" She pumped her fist up into the air, making her trench coat wave in the breeze to reveal scintillating flesh only barely hidden by a tightly-woven mesh shirt. "Now follow me!" Once again a pin could have been heard dropping the silence was so all-encompassing. Naruto actually swore he heard a cicada chirp somewhere outside the window the woman had smashed through to get into the classroom.

"Bad timing Anko." Ibiki drawled in mild irritation. As the woman sunk a little, an embarrassed blush encroaching across her cheeks, Naruto took a moment to examine her closer as she turned to bicker with Ibiki, taking in her vibrant purple hair and almost pupilless brown eyes. With a start he realised that she was the woman who had originally given him the inspiration for Ramia. He was briefly excited, flicking through the cards he had left to see if she was included. She wasn't unfortunately; it seemed she was a relatively new proctor; however as she turned back to the room something else caught his eye.

It was hidden behind the high collar of her coat but he definitely caught sight of a small black seal on her neck. Even with his limited experience with Fuinjutsu and the simplistic appearance of the seal, he could tell that it was a complicated piece of seal-work. Instantly his interest was piqued by a previously unknown part of him waking up and taking notice. However any further examination was cut off as Anko seemed to get over her own embarrassment at her faux pas and turned back to the chuunin hopefuls.

"I'll explain everything when we've exchanged places, so follow me!" The woman naturally dived straight back out the window she had smashed, leaving a room of fifty one confused genin and an exasperated Ibiki. Eventually though the group snapped out of their stupor and made after the woman, not trusting her unpredictability to possibly disqualify them if they were too late. Naruto trailed along after his teammates as they dashed after the rest of the group but his thoughts were elsewhere, focused on the new feelings circulating his mind after seeing that seal.

Naruto had, of course, dabbled in the sealing arts; his puppets would have been woefully less effective without seals to regulate their movements. He had no idea how Suna puppeteers caused their creations to move, but Naruto's moved through seals that he affected with specific pulses of Chakra he sent through his threads. They were simplistic at best though, carrying simply pre-prepared instructions to the aspect of the puppet they controlled, however it was the way they all linked together in one great array throughout the puppet that Naruto was proud of.

However while he was not unfamiliar with the art, he couldn't say that he had been particularly involved in it before now. True, it came rather easily to him as normally he just needed to think about what he wanted to do and the seals would simply arrange themselves in his mind. However it was that ease that also left him disinterested in the practise; Naruto was so used to challenges and obstacles in his life that having something simply come to him without work seemed almost alien. The lack of challenge left him feeling without accomplishment, so he only used Fuinjutsu for what he needed and never just experimented with it like he might poisons, or mechanisms, or designs.

However seeing that little, innocuous, inverted Mitsudomoe design seemed to spark some flame of competition within him that had previously remained unlit. He felt the sudden urge to compare his own work with somebody else's, an innate desire to be proven superior. As he jogged Naruto quickly shook his head of that, he was almost starting to sound like Sasuke in his head. However that tantalising sensation of competitive spirit didn't leave him, so by the time they caught up to everybody outside the familiar chain-link fence of training ground forty four, he felt a little restless.

"Alright my little chuunin hopefuls, you guys are about to find out why this place is called the forest of death." Anko spoke up from the front of the crowd, an all-too-innocent grin on her features; however Naruto spotted that at his chance to rile up the woman. Naturally if he wanted to examine that mark some more he needed to interact with her and interest equals interaction. However the quickest way to get someone interested in you is to aggravate or irritate them. People always have the innate desire to see their own opinions win out, so clashing opposing ideals against them only created the first strenuous ties of a connection.

"Wow, big trees and animals; so terrifying." Naruto managed in a perfect deadpan, his expression the epitome of boredom as he stared up at the massive trees that inhabited the large training ground. It helped that he had been in there before to examine the unique wildlife and collect plant samples for poisons. He was expecting the retaliation as he assumed Anko was the type who didn't like people messing with her mysterious and dread-inducing atmosphere so he didn't even try to dodge when she threw a kunai to slice his cheek.

"Hmm, tough guys like you are usually the first to get eaten." The woman appeared behind him in what was admittedly an impressive show of speed, leaning over his shoulder to lick a long line of his blood with the creepiest look of satisfaction she could manage. Around them, Naruto's team very much included, the genin cringed away from the strange and disgusting act. However one Kusa genin with long black hair on the other side of the crowd was watching with a strange glint in her eye. Naruto on the other hand smiled lightly, craning his neck to look at the woman intentionally pushing her assets against his back to cause him further discomfort.

"Thanks for the advice, I'll have to make sure anybody who eats me regrets it soon after." Obviously Anko didn't recognise him, no doubt because of the hood and goggles hiding most of his features. Although the whisker marks on his cheeks should have been a bit of a giveaway; perhaps she just had a bad memory? In either case Naruto quickly flipped a small vial of yellow liquid from one of his pouches and offered it to the woman with a small smirk. "You'll be needing this in a few minutes." It was a strange day when Naruto had discovered that his own blood was mildly poisonous; not lethally so of course, but enough to cause serious discomfort to people who weren't him. It was no doubt the cocktails of different chemicals he kept injecting himself with over the years.

"What do you…?" Anko blinked, her vision distorting slightly as a sudden itch caused her to absently scratch at her arm, only for it to not go away. Her skin paled just a little and the veins around the edges of her eyes became just a little more prominent. He smirked again as he pressed the tiny vial into her hand and turned back to his team.

"Didn't someone ever tell you not to lick strange people's blood?" Naruto asked quietly, so the other genin couldn't overhear them; it would be better if they had to imagine what the 'crazy proctor' was talking about with the quiet, unperturbed genin. People's imaginations tended to provide a much better image than anything Naruto could have spun for himself. Deciding to just leave the genin be for now and focus on why she suddenly felt like she had just woken up with a killer hangover, Anko turned away from Naruto and addressed the rest of the genin while trying to keep her face straight.

She began explaining the rules of the second exam trying all the while not to itch her arm where, if you could see under her trench coat as many of the males in the crowd surely wished they could, the veins along her arm were becoming more visible. Naruto kept an ear open but turned back to his team with a small smirk hidden in the shadows of his hood; he was sure Anko would be interested in him now. However as he turned back to his team he was only met by an angry-looking Sakura and a fist to the gut.

"What the hell was that Naruto-baka? Now you've drawn everybody's attention to us!" Her voice was a furious whisper, trying not to exacerbate the damage Naruto had done. Naruto took the blow, it wasn't that strong anyway, but as soon as she released him he looked up, fixing her with a rather chilling smirk.

"You shouldn't worry so much Sakura…" His goggles flashed in the light for a moment as he gazed at her more intently, his expression becoming a blank slate. "… but hit me again, and I'll turn you into a puppet." The pinkette gulped as she nervously took a step back, freaked out by how quickly Naruto's normal expression returned to his face from the momentary lapse. She increasingly got the impression that her quiet teammate wasn't the most stable person. However she was saved as Sasuke grunted, butting in on the conversation with a cocky smirk.

"Weren't you the one who said we shouldn't take unnecessary risks without knowing what the next challenge is?" He interjected, parroting Naruto's words from earlier back to him in an attempt to expose his hypocrisy. However the blonde simply turned his attention away from Sakura and snorted softly.

"Unknown? We knew from the moment the proctor said she would be cutting the group in half that we would be pitted against one another somehow. It would have to be in teams as we passed or failed the first exams as a team. The fact that it takes place here only shows there will be a survival element meaning the test will get more difficult the more time passes. All I did was make it so we will be targeted, bringing the other competitors to us early so we have a higher chance of confronting them with more energy." Naruto offered almost dismissively while in the background Anko almost validated his quick summary as she produced two types of scrolls and explained the test.

"Hn." Apparently Sasuke wasn't too happy with that as he clicked his tongue and turned away, plunging the team into an awkward silence that persisted as they signed the indemnity forms, collected their heaven scroll and took their place at their assigned gate. Sakura looked as though she wanted to say something so the team wouldn't start off the exam so disjointed. However anything she might have said was drowned out as the speaker system around the training ground's perimeter crackled to life.

"The Second stage of the chuunin exams start now." Anko's voice shouted, garbled by the blare of the speaker. "A final piece of advice…" The locks to the seventeen gates about the forest clicked with the sound of a buzzer "…don't die!"


	9. A tear in the seam

**Do I? Hmmmmmmmmmm... nope.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated." - Charles Dickens_

* * *

Team Seven didn't enter Training Ground Forty-Four under the best of relations. Sasuke was annoyed at Naruto for, in his own mind, one-upping him while the blonde in turn was irritated at Sasuke for second-guessing him. Sakura on the other hand was helpless against watching her teammates silently brood. One she was frightened of, even if she wouldn't admit it, and the other she admired, and couldn't bring herself to doubt. It put them in a stalemate situation for almost two minutes as they hopped through the trees in the direction of the tower, none of them speaking. Surprisingly it was Sasuke who finally pulled them to a stop in a relatively enclosed clearing, turning back to the others with grim-faced irritation as he overcame his own stubbornness.

"We need a plan; we can't just run in here without any idea what we're doing." Dropping down from the trees to join him Naruto and Sakura briefly shared a glance before nodding, although somewhat reluctantly in the case of the former.

"I agree with you, for once." Sasuke's eye twitched but he didn't say anything against the baiting comment.

"Good, then you can hold the scroll." He flipped it out of his pouch and tossed it over to the blonde who examined it momentarily before slipping it out of sight in his jacket.

"I'm not complaining, but why me? I would have thought Sakura would make a better choice." He questioned lazily, not really caring one way or another but interested in the Uchiha's thought process. Catching Sakura's confused expression he smirked at her and quickly clarified. "Nobody would think you'd have it, after all." The pinkette blinked owlishly before scowling as she realised the underlying insult. Again, Sasuke ignored Naruto's attempts at riling his teammates up; he wasn't even sure why the blonde was doing so.

"Because you have so many pockets that even you lose track of things; it will force any teams trying to get our scroll to waste time." To his explanation Naruto just shrugged, seemingly accepting it without qualm. "So next we need to decide how we tackle this challenge; I think we should head to the tower and set up an ambush for other teams, take their scrolls quickly and deal with less risk because we're already close to the end point." He looked about, spotting Sakura get over her irritation to nod acceptingly and Naruto tilt his head slightly.

"Sounds like a solid plan." The blonde intoned blandly, making Sasuke nod as he made to speak only to be cut off as Naruto continued. "Unless…" Sasuke's eye twitched more prominently this time as he caught the blonde's smirk, even hidden under his hood's shadows as it was.

"Unless what?" Naruto made to speak before seemingly thinking better of it, waving his hand dismissively. Sasuke eyed him for a moment but the blonde's face was deceptively blank; however yet again as he made to continue, the puppeteer cut in.

"Unless you consider the fact other teams think of the same idea. We're the youngest in these exams so that gives the other participants an edge in height and leg length. If they decide to set up ambushes then they will get there first and there's nothing we can do about it. If we try to do the same it will only draw us into their traps." He shrugged neutrally before raising his hands up in mock placation. "But, of course, as team leader you have final say right? I'm just going to get some water." He flipped a small canteen out of one of his many pockets and moved over to the stream that cut through the small clearing.

"Fine then what do you…" Sasuke trailed off as he watched the blonde collect water, thinking back to the map the proctor had briefly shown them. "Okay then; we'll head for the stream that runs through the training ground. Other teams will need to go for water and it will be an easy place to set up a loose ambush; plus we'll have a more or less straight shot for the tower after we get another scroll." Naruto walked back with a now full canteen and Sasuke just stared at him, daring the blonde to challenge him this time.

However the puppeteer remained silent, only giving a curt nod as he hid a small smirk with a sip of water. They spent another few minutes just ironing out details such as code-words if they got separated, how they would deal with the night if they couldn't get a scroll by the end of the day and other such things. By the time they were done it had been almost ten minutes since the exam started and they were all eager to get moving again. However as they began to move through the trees again, using the sun to navigate their way in the direction of the stream, Naruto noticed the wind change rather suddenly.

However before he could even warn his teammates of the anomaly the sudden breeze became a torrential gale. It actually picked him up off his feet despite the fact he was sticking to the trees with Chakra. A few rather painful impacts with too-sturdy branches later and Naruto was picking himself up in an unfamiliar clearing, teammates nowhere in sight. By the time he determined where he had come from though by the trail of wooden debris it was too late as a voice broke the tentative silence.

"Just like Orochimaru-Sama predicted right Dosu?" The blonde whirled, his eyes narrowed as he easily picked out the three shadowy forms that emerged from the surrounding trees. They were the team from Otogakure, their headbands gave away that much, and they didn't look all that surprised to see him here alone. However it was that last part that caught his intrigue as he carefully manoeuvred a hand into one of his jacket's outer pockets.

"Orochimaru?" The hunch-backed one who had been addressed as Dosu by the other boy with spiky brown hair simply growled as he swatted the other boy on the back of the head.

"This is why I say you talk too much Zaku; you reveal everything." Naruto would have used the opportunity to act but their third team member, a girl with long black hair reaching almost down to her feet, was watching him like a hawk.

"Like it matters much; the kid's gonna be dead in a few minutes anyway." Naruto's eyes narrowed at Zaku's tone, mostly the sadistic glee with which he said it. That, combined with the fact the boy had death written all over his shirt, quite literally, didn't paint a good picture of his personality.

"Would you two shut up already and get on with it? This wasn't the only task he set us you know." It was the girl who spoke, finally diverting her attention from him enough that Naruto was able to whip out a concealed scroll, spread it out in front of him and slam his palm into the sealing matrix all in a single second. Suddenly it wasn't three on one as Ramia appeared, coiled around his body protectively as Naruto kept his cold eyes on all of them. The clearing became incredibly tense at that point as the three realised they had wasted too much time and allowed Naruto to prepare.

"What other tasks?" Naruto asked almost conversationally as he brought his goggles up to his eyes in a slow, deliberate movement. The three Oto Shinobi sneered at him, but surprisingly it was the seemingly reserved girl that answered.

"Orochimaru-sama asked us to deal with you while he entertained your friends; that's all you need to know little treehugger." She spat with enough venom that told Naruto that she hadn't had a pleasant past with Konoha Shinobi. However for whatever reason Orochimaru, of the Densetsu no Sannin no less, wanted his teammates and him separated from them. That couldn't be good, for either of them.

"You're right, that is all I need to know." One of the scales on Ramia's tail suddenly opened, dropping a smoke bomb that immediately enshrouded the clearing with a thick, noxious white smoke. Before it even cleared Zaku could be heard yelping as Ramia's tail suddenly appeared out of nowhere, aimed directly at his head. He ducked and dived back as the puppet came full circle and lashed out with its claws; the slight purple sheen they had showed even a single scratch wouldn't end well. By then the smoke had cleared and Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

Instinctively, thanks to advice offered by their master, all three Oto genin looked to the puppet in an attempt to trace back the Chakra threads that must be attached, only to find none. From the trees Naruto found this reaction highly interesting as nobody outside of Konoha and Nami should have known about him being a Puppeteer; their actions and lack of surprise implied prior knowledge. His attention was diverted as Zaku suddenly raised his hands at Ramia and, knowing that no Shinobi ever just raised their hands in a fight for no reason, Naruto forced his puppet to curve its body out the way.

"Zankuuha!" It proved the right choice as a few splinters of wood were suddenly shaved from Ramia's side by a seemingly invisible blast that ripped a dangerously large hole in a tree on the other side of the clearing. Naruto blinked in surprise as he spotted the two holes in Zaku's palm as he shot another few successive blasts of the technique, with Ramia writhing out the way each time thanks to her flexible body and Naruto's overview of the clearing. The other two were holding back though; whether it was because they believed their partner could handle it or because they didn't think their techniques would be effective on a puppet he didn't know.

"Why don't you actually show yourself little treehugger, instead of hiding behind your dolls?" Zaku called out, a grin on his face as he continued to blast away at the slithering puppet in his attempts to reduce it to sawdust.

"But you look like you're having so much fun already." Naruto's disembodied voice called out from the trees; it was immediately met by a salvo of senbon that thudded uselessly into an empty tree. From his real hiding spot Naruto raised an eyebrow, glad he had thrown his voice; why was it always senbon users? "That was a good throw, nearly nicked me there." Deciding to mess with them this time Naruto threw his voice to the opposite side of the clearing. Yet again senbon dropped from the girl's sleeves and into her hands before she let them all fly with deadly, if not misplaced, accuracy.

"Stop underestimating us!" the girl called out, anger clearly clouding her judgement as she began throwing senbon in seemingly any random direction.

"Kin, don't get so angry." Their apparent leader, Dosu called out; he still hadn't made any big moves during the course of the fight. Naruto just watched in slight amusement as the thin metal tools thudded uselessly into trees all around the clearing. He did, at least until a few embedded themselves in the trunk next to him, causing him to blink at the near-miss.

"_Is that a bell?" _The blonde thought, not a moment before Kin suddenly pulled on the nearly invisible threads of Ninja wire tied to her fingers, causing the bells attatched to some of the senbon around the clearing to tinkle softly. However as a wave of nausea washed over Naruto he could hardly describe it as such; it turned into a clanging gong within his head that immediately causing him to unbalance, tipping right over the branch he was on and falling right into the ground in a pained heap.

"Damn… I hate Genjutsu." He groaned as he flung himself to the side in time to avoid the spot he was just occupying being smashed into dust and bits of plant matter. Moving proved rather difficult as he attempted to get to his feet only to find himself unstable and the world moving in confusing ways. What he did spot was Zaku's hands, strange metal tubes included, pointing in his direction. Shakily his fingers twitched and Ramia was suddenly interposed between them, ready to absorb the blow.

"Surprise." His eyes widened at the sudden, gruff voice to the side and he was only just fast enough to bend his head out the way of a vicious right-hook, only to realise his mistake moments later as the familiar metal gauntlet passed a few inches from his face. Immediately a rush of nausea worse than Kin's attack tore through him, sending the world spinning and his insides twisting as he fought down his stomach's contents. Unfortunately this also meant he lost control of his fingers, causing Ramia to slump over; Zaku immediately took the opportunity to bombard the defenceless puppet with his invisible and deadly wind blasts.

Naruto had built Ramia strong and she was able to absorb a few of the hits, the natural design of her body allowing the force to be distributed evenly and allowing her to bend with the blasts, reducing their impact. However without Naruto to control it, there was only so much the puppet could take before Zaku scowled, setting his feet and squaring his shoulders.

"Zankuukyokuha!" A much more powerful blast of wind ripped from his hands, tearing across the clearing and smashing right into the hapless wooden construct. Instantly everything below the snake-like puppet's head and most of its tail were shredded apart into nothing but chunks of wood and splinters. In the only good turn of events that brought though, the countless senbon hidden away in Ramia's body were instantly scattered by the massive blast, forcing all three of the Oto-nin to take cover from them.

Naruto took the unprecedented opportunity to scrabble away from Dosu, holding back his vomit and blinking rapidly to try and dissuade the dizziness that had come over him. By the time any of his attackers realised he was gone, he was already up in the trees, scrabbling through his pouches to find something to deal with the nausea he was feeling. He had developed poisons to simulate the effect so he could only hope the corresponding antidote would do something. Thankfully only a few moments after he had injected himself directly in the neck, he felt his vision correct itself and his balance issues fade away; it didn't do much for how sick he felt but that wasn't too debilitating.

"Come out little treehugger! We destroyed your puppet so you might as well come quietly." Naruto chuckled softly, still instinctively throwing his voice to make it sound distant from himself.

"Foolish…" All three Oto-nin's ears pricked up, trying to locate the boy now that they were savvy to his little ventriloquist act. Naruto on the other hand simply reached into his pocket, withdrawing another scroll that he quickly opened an unsealed. "…to assume I only have the one." The three could only ponder on his words before they heard an unsettling skittering sound. It was Kin who spotted it first, _it _most definitely being the best way to describe the monstrosity that emerged from the trees.

Long, dank white hair that stuck together in messy clumps hid dark, glassy eyes that stared at them almost as if the thing was alive. However that was all Kin ever got to see as it raised one of its long, spindly legs and shot a single senbon, faster than any human could ever throw, from the tip. It landed with deadly accuracy, embedding in the Oto Kunoichi's neck and causing her to almost instantly slump to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Zaku and Dosu were more on guard for the next barrage, the former sending them careening off course with his wind blasts and the latter batting them away with his gauntlet. The new arrival quickly scuttled back into the darkness of the trees, leaving the two alone again.

"Do you like her?" Naruto's voice called out, taunting them further as they continued to hear that unsettling skitter all around them. "I call her Arakune." Dosu's eyes nervously glanced around into the trees, never once noticing the shadow that as slowly descending over his own. "Say hello Arakune." Dosu wasn't ashamed to say he screamed as he looked up, right into the emotionless wooden face of Arakune. Under the right circumstances he might have said that face was beautifully sculpted. However the four smaller glassy eyes above the main pair and the disgustingly segmented jaw shattered any illusions of beauty.

"W-W-What the fuck is this thing?" Dosu tripped over his own feet as he back-peddled away from the puppet, which he now saw to be hanging by a long silvery thread emerging from its bulbous black abdomen. It opened its mouth, much wider than should have been possible for any human, and hissed at him, what looked to be thick, viscous saliva dripping from its mouth. Suddenly it spat at him, a great glob of that same substance, and Dosu automatically raised his gauntlet to protect him only to watch in fear as whatever the substance was ate right through the metal like it was paper.

In his shock he didn't even make a move as Arakune dropped to the ground, scuttling forward and picking him up in her two human arms. It was only when she opened up her impossibly wide mouth again, the cheeks and jaw literally unhinging, did he begin to struggle, closing his eyes in fear. However the wad of acid to the face never came, instead he felt something vaguely soft and moist envelop his head, before moving across his shoulders and arms. It was only by the time his entire torso was enveloped did he snap out of it, kicking and struggling in vain. He opened his eyes to see only darkness; a pungent smell invaded his nose that made his eyes heavy and his movements weaker until his vision blurred right into unconsciousness.

Zaku watched on in fascination and disgust as his teammate was eaten in front of him. The plates that formed Arakune's body shifted and moved with the lump he knew to be Dosu's body, revealed to be attached to some membranous material that could expand and contract to accommodate the prisoner as they were 'swallowed'. He guess Dosu ended up in the dull black abdomen the woman's torso was attached to, along with eight skittering black legs that were deceptively fast. As that same puppet turned its eyes on him he immediately raised his arms warningly, aware he was the last one of his team left standing.

"Your teammate isn't dead." Naruto intoned dully, causing the brown-haired boy to start, arms raised as he spotted the blonde drop into the clearing, strategically keeping Arakune between him and Zaku. "He's just lying in a gaseous blend of various drugs that will keep him asleep as long as he's inside Arakune." Naruto smirked as Zaku's hands twitched and Arakune in turn moved her laden-down torso into his line of fire. "Don't be too hasty, one wrong move and you'll blast your friend into little bloody chunks." At that Zaku sneered, motioning towards Kin's limp body without ever taking the eyes off the blonde. He really wished the puppeteer's long jacket wasn't covering his hands; he couldn't know what the boy was doing with his fingers and it unnerved him.

"It doesn't matter anyway; one of my teammates is dead so it's not like we can proceed." He shot back only for Naruto's eyes to quickly glance at Kin, a small smile growing on his face.

"She's not dead, just unconscious; hand over your scroll and leave peacefully and I'll give you back both your teammates. There's still four days for you to gain two scrolls; it's better than having no chance." Zaku's eyes narrowed; there was no way to know if the blonde was telling the truth, or even if he would simply stab them in the back the moment he tried to leave. It wasn't the usual style for a Leaf Shinobi but Orochimaru had told them to be specifically aware of this one. "Might want to decided quickly, one twitch of my fingers and Dosu there gets a taste of something a little more lethal." Naruto offered in a faux-friendly voice, causing Zaku's eyes to narrow as he went for the pouch on his hip.

"Fine." He removed his earth scroll, trying to see by Naruto's expression if it was the one the blonde needed only to get stone-walled by the puppeteer's expressionless mask. Suddenly though he threw it up into the air towards Naruto, the blonde's eyes naturally flicking up to follow it's trajectory. In that moment Zaku grinned viciously, arms coming up as he built up an enormous amount of Chakra in his arms. "I change my mind." Naruto realized too late that he had made a mistake trying to barter the lives of the boy's teammate against his own safety.

"Zankuukyokuha!" A concentrated gale thundered out of the experimental tubes in Zaku's arms, slamming right through Arakune's exposed abdomen. The weakened blast caught Naruto in the side as he tried to move out the way, too slowly though. He was sent careening through the air, all sense of direction torn from him as the word spun for a brief but tumultuous moment before he slammed bodily into a tree. The tree didn't give, his body did though as he slumped to the ground, vision swimming and intermittently darkening. It all snapped into blinding clarity though as a sudden sharp pain caused his head to snap up only to see Zaku's smirking face sneer down at him as the boy shoved his sandal into Naruto's shoulder.

"Not so conversational now eh little treehugger? Not when I'm the one in control right?" Naruto's head lilted slightly and the blonde knew very well he was likely concussed at the moment. It didn't help that he could see and feel something warm and wet dripping over his right eye. Zaku brought his attention back to him by pressing harder on his shoulder where he realised he had a large and bloody gash, given the warm sensation dripping down his left arm. "I couldn't give two shits about those teammates of mine; our orders were never to proceed in this stupid test, just to deal with you." He raised his hands and grinned, giving Naruto a good view down the barrels of his surgically-implanted tubes.

"What was that?" The grinning boy asked imperiously as he heard Naruto murmur something weakly; the boy obviously wasn't all there after his impact.

"I said… do you have clans in Otogakure?" Zaku leaned back a little, his brow furrowing as he stared at the blonde in confusion, watching as he looked up at the Oto-nin with his cracked goggles.

"What the hell are you talking about treehugger? How hard did you hit your head?" Naruto chuckled weakly, unnerving the other boy.

"I just wanted… to know if you had… clans." His voice was a little shaky and he was mumbling a few words but it still got the point across. "I always admired… the Aburame… myself. I love the way… they manipulate their… insects. Like a swarm of tiny… little… puppets." Zaku blinked and brought his hands up straighter, almost pressing them right into Naruto's face.

"What the hell are you going on about now?" Naruto grinned slightly; it was a manic, desperate kind of expression that only served to unsettle.

"Nothing much… I'm just trying to keep you busy… while I direct a miniature puppet disguised as a fly onto your shoulder." As he spoke his words gained confidence and clarity, revealing himself to be not as nearly injured as he pretended to be. However before Zaku could even manage an ineloquent 'eh?' he suddenly lacked a head with which to say the words. The tiny little insect-shaped puppet on his shoulder exploded with the force of the exploding seal inscribed meticulously on its body and the boy's head was reduced to a messy red paste, thankfully scattering away from Naruto.

For what felt like a long few minutes Naruto just sat there, still slumped against the tree and surrounded by the remains of his puppets and the Oto-nin. After a few disgruntled noises from somewhere in the back of his throat he schlepped to his feet, swaying slightly as he clutched at his shoulder. A grimace made itself known on his lips as he stared across at the wooden wreckage around him. His puppets were pretty much unsalvageable at this point; Ramia lacked a torso and most of her tail and Arakune lacked her body, most of it lying in bloody splinters around the limp construct.

That was when it all really slammed into the puppeteer; right now he was completely alone. He had no puppets, no defences against the people and dangers around him, nothing separating him from the world. For just that brief, fleeting moment Naruto was truly terrified. This wasn't like Nami; there was no convenient period to recuperate and fix everything, no time to plan. At any moment other genin, drawn by the sounds of their conflict, could come through those trees, spotting him there injured and defenceless.

His breathing became faster as his heart hammered in his chest, not knowing what to do now. However the wold seemed to slow down as his yes caught sight of Kin's limp body; all three of the Oto-nin were dead, Naruto was just bluffing earlier. However where Dosu's body was just scattered chunks of meat and Zaku was currently missing his head, Kin's body was pristine, the only damage being a slight senbon wound to the neck. She just lay there, a full moveable, operational body… just going to waste.

* * *

It took around five minutes for Naruto to collect up the useable remains of his puppets, collecting the Oto team's earth scroll on his way out of the clearing. It was another five minutes of backtracking through the trees though before he found his team. He almost wished he hadn't. There were obvious signs of a conflict, destruction of trees and numerous scorch marks and kunai scattered about. Just as he was wondering what happened to his teammates he spotted Sasuke's limp form on the forest floor.

He dropped down next to him, noticing the dark-haired Uchiha was twitching and writhing in place, obviously unconscious but still in a great deal of apparent pain. A light sheen of sweat coated his body and he had a few tears across his clothing and skin, most noticeably a stab wound in his thigh. It all seemed to stem from the angrily pulsing seal on his neck, a seal Naruto recognised all too well from seeing on Anko's neck only hours ago. A rush of exhaustion overcame Naruto's body as he thought of that; it seemed like so much longer since then.

However he fought it back, examining the seal as it writhed and pulsed an ugly orange colour, something Naruto never thought he would hear himself think. To be honest Naruto couldn't make heads nor tails of it, it was far too complex and he simply lacked the necessary knowledge. However it looked as though it was killing Sasuke and he couldn't let that happen. Quickly using his fingers to sketch out various kanji in the air that lingered for a few moments as a faint, wispy blue mist, he gathered them up and swiftly slammed them onto the seal. It seemed to literally twitch and writhe in panic before falling still, softening into a dull black.

Naruto may have lacked the skill to remove the seal, but even a novice could put a barrier around it to seal it off from the rest of Sasuke's body. With another twist of his fingers the seal seemed to almost eat itself, vanishing into flawless skin like it was never there. Naruto figured if he hid the seal so Sasuke didn't know he had it, then perhaps he would never try to use it; there was a lot of malevolence contained within that innocuous mitsudomoe design. Sasuke also fell silent, his body falling limp as he gave into less fretful unconsciousness, allowing Naruto's attention to turn to locating his other teammate.

He found her up on the branch of a tree and once again, he wished he hadn't. She was dead, there was no kind or easy way of saying it. Her neck had been cleanly snapped, leaving her lifeless body to lie draped over the branch like some sick ornament. He carefully retrieved her, bringing her down to where Sasuke lay and setting her body on the ground. If Naruto was honest with himself, the next few minutes passed by in somewhat of a blur, his mind refusing to acknowledge what he was seeing. Instead he focused on bandaging up his wounds, cleaning off his bloodied clothes in a nearby stream and making sure the clearing had a few traps to deter other teams.

However Naruto eventually ran out of things to do and Sakura wasn't getting any less dead, or so the morbid part of his thoughts helpfully informed him. Eventually he found himself sitting next to her, his face twisted into a scowl as he stared at her almost serene features. Aside from her cold, pale skin, he could almost imagine she was sleeping; he wished that was all it was.

"Dammit." He suddenly turned and threw the earth scroll he had been tightly clutching across the clearing, as much good as it did them with a dead teammate. His chest heaved for a while as he simply glared at nothing, as if he were trying to burn a hole straight through one of the forest's oversized trees. He clenched his teeth and looked back at Sakura, still scowling and wondering just why he cared so much. He cared little for Sakura as a teammate, less so as a person. So why did he care if she was dead? What difference did it make?

"_You can't progress in the exams without all three team members." _A helpful little voice in the back of his mind offered, allowing Naruto to latch onto that thought. Yes, he cared because it was a hindrance, he needed her alive otherwise they were stuck, the two scrolls completely useless. He looked back down at Sakura's cold form as he began to pace, agonising over what to do and all these irritating little feelings that kept sweeping over him weren't helping. His mind offered up images of a crying little pink-haired girl being comforted by a youthful, innocent blonde only to be swatted away. Naruto didn't have time for the sentimental thoughts, he needed to stay focused.

"What's going on?" Naruto almost wanted to groan as he heard Sasuke speak up, the dark-haired teen propping himself up on an elbow and placing a hand on his forehead. "Naruto?" Sasuke questioned as black eyes locked onto blue; Naruto's goggles were down because they were useless in their cracked state. "Wait!" The boy's eyes snapped open in alarm as he jerked about, eyes scanning this way and that for an invisible threat. "Kusa-nin! Sakura! Orochimaru!" He shouted fervently only to quiet as he saw Naruto shush him with a scowl; things were bad enough without alerting any nearby teams of their distress.

"Quiet down; Orochimaru is gone. I found you guys like this." Naruto hissed out in a quiet but surprisingly authoritative tone. Sasuke took a moment and calmed himself before locking eyes with Naruto heatedly.

"Where were you?!" Thankfully he managed a hoarse whisper.

"I was ambushed the moment I got to my feet back there; I only managed to beat them and get here around half an hour ago." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him but Naruto held his ground and eventually relented, his eyes naturally falling down until they rested on Sakura's unnaturally pale form.

"Wait, Sakura! Is she okay?" Naruto was surprised by the genuine concern that seemed to come from the self-proclaimed avenger. He hadn't thought the boy cared much for Sakura; he was about to tell him the truth when his own mouth betrayed him.

"She's fine." At that time Naruto had no idea why he straight-out lied to the boy; later he would look back and realise if he hadn't, things would have gone so very differently.

"But, she isn't breathing." Naruto grimaced at the Uchiha's observation, his mind whirling at a mile a minute; he was committed to the lie now.

"She was badly injured when I got here, I needed to give her a drug to relax her body; it's a side effect. You remember what that hunter-nin did to Zabuza?" Sasuke looked down at Sakura's body for a second before nodding slowly, unnerved by how much it looked like she was actually dead. "Don't worry about her, I know enough to treat her; but we'll need to get to the tower soon." Sasuke was still staring at Sakura but was snapped out of it by Naruto's voice.

"But we…" he trailed off as he saw Naruto hold up the two scrolls they now had.

"I took it off the team that ambushed us; we just need to get to the tower now." Naruto quickly supplied, sliding the scrolls back into his Jacket and picking up Sakura. Awkwardly he swung her limp body onto her back, a chill going down his spine at how cold she was. Sasuke took one look at him before nodding quickly.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

It took more time than Naruto would have liked to cross the distance to the tower, a few hours at least. However in his hyper aware state thanks to losing his puppets and feeling extra vulnerable he made sure to stick clear of anything that might be an ambush. His extreme paranoia managed to get them to the tower without interference, letting both boys release a sigh of relief as they crossed the threshold into a warm, barren room. Between them it didn't take long to solve the riddle and soon, after a large puff of smoke, they found none other than Iruka in front of them. The man had a proud smile on his face as he took them in, only to frown as he spotted Sakura hanging on Naruto's back.

"Is Sakura okay? Do we need to get her to a medical-nin?" Eyes widening imperceptibly Naruto quickly shook his head, forcing an apologetic smile onto his face as he pulled down his hood.

"No need Iruka-Sensei, Sakura-chan is fine." Sasuke looked across at him strangely, wondering when his blonde teammate had become so familiar with Sakura. "But, I gave her a rather delicate cocktail of drugs when she took a nasty injury so I think the med-nin will do more harm than good if they try to treat her, you know?" Iruka looked worried but Naruto dissuaded his concerns with a dismissive shake of his hands.

"It's nothing serious Sensei, but she's going to need a lot of rest, so can I get her to the rooms?" Iruka nodded slowly, a frown on his face as he began walking with the two out into the tower proper.

"Are you absolutely sure Naruto, you don't want the medics to look her over?" The boy just smiled disarmingly, hefting Sakura up a little higher as the girl began to slide down his back.

"Come on Sensei, you know I learned a lot of medical techniques during my time in the academy; I know exactly how to treat her. Plus, this is a survival exercise right? There won't be any convenient medic-nin out on real missions." Again Iruka nodded slowly, the troubled expression not leaving his face which left Naruto to bring out the big guns. "It's okay Sensei; she's my teammate, I won't let anything bad happen to her." Finally the academy instructor's features softened and he gave a small, encouraging nod.

"Well alright then; but if she hasn't recovered by the end of the remaining four days then bring her to the medics, okay?" Naruto nodded enthusiastically as the chuunin finally left them alone to find the rooms. Sasuke was still giving him slightly odd looks but he must have been too tired to care as he quickly separated into his own room, allowing Naruto to slip into one of his own, a double, and breathe a sigh of relief. Carefully he lay Sakura down on the bed before walking over and unsealing Kin's body and laying it on the one across the room.

"At least Sensei would be proud I managed to get two girls into bed." Naruto murmured to himself humourlessly as he wished, and not for the first time, that he had a clue what he was doing.

* * *

**A/N: Link to Arakune's picture now on my profile.**


	10. A hasty patch job

**It would be cool if I did; wouldn't it?**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"__All human things of dearest value hang on slender strings." - Edmund Waller_

* * *

In the end Naruto didn't do much in that first day; he spend a good ten minutes simply staring at the two corpses occupying his room before sealing them back up; he felt sick. No, instead he wandered the tower, trying to keep his mind very much off the two sealed bodies he had with him. That didn't really accomplish much either, although it did allow him to overhear two chuunin talking about the fact that there may not be any preliminaries this year given the way the examinee teams were trickling in slowly. Apparently only three teams, including Team Seven, had made it in so far; Naruto did his best to avoid them.

He tried to go down to the canteen on one of the lower levels but only ended up picking at his food, his appetite quickly leaving him as he poked at his meat. Go figure, cooked animal flesh just wasn't really doing it for him right now. Maybe if he thought of the corpses as nothing but animals it would make all of this easier? For some reason the thought only made him queasy, not to mention he just couldn't rationalise his teammate away as some kind of cattle. The Oto kunoichi on the other hand…

After a good few hours of agonising over it he was back in his room, staring at Kin's body laid out over the bed. He had removed the mattress so she was lying on the hard wooden support underneath, he figured that would make things easier. Sakura was still sealed up, he just… couldn't deal with her right now; he might make a mistake that he couldn't fix. Then again, this whole lie felt like a huge mistake already; but what was he supposed to do? Run to the Hokage and tell him that he lied about his teammate's death just so he could advance in the chuunin exams? That he had already considered desecrating her body for the same reason?

He shook his head firmly, focusing on the other girl for the moment; slowly he turned his head back to her, properly examining her for the first time since collecting her body. Oh sure he had _looked _at them, but he had never properly examined her; for a moment his eyes twitched as he thought back to that bird he had used as the inspiration for Hane. For a while he simply moved her body about, lifting her arms, flexing her joints, turning her head this way and that. For a minute he even satisfied a mild, childish curiosity he had regarding the female body before realising just what he was doing.

He was sick moments later; the full brunt of his actions finally slamming into him.

Even so, he still returned to examining her body only a few minutes later; after being sick he even felt a little better, as if simply acknowledging his actions had made it that much easier. He felt detached from the situation almost, as he were simply guiding his body instead of actually living it. It was almost as if the impending deadline of the body's rigor mortis was pressuring him to act. His mind became clinical, listing quickly through the things he would have to do to turn a human body into a workable puppet. It was almost like a mental game… and that was what he turned it into; he had to.

First he had to break the joints, disconnecting the major skeletal muscles from the bones so that he could install his own joints in their place. He would have to remove the internal organs as well as they were simply wasted space now. He would have to drain the blood so if it was cut there would be no evidence as to its origin. To further prevent this he would have to reinforce both the skin, the muscles and the skeleton with the special resin he used on his puppets to increase their durability. It was effective at absorbing into and strengthening any kind of material it touched, as he had found out when he was younger.

He had been out on his balcony, trying to air out his apartment after blowing up another vial of liquid poison only to find it had a mildly corrosive property when introduced to wood. He had watched it eat away at his balcony's railing, but for some reason not in certain areas. He had discovered that a tree that grew close by to his apartment dripped sap onto his balcony; wherever the sap touched the wood became resistance to the corrosion. Not only that but it became vastly stronger; less likely to break, chip or be cut. When Naruto distilled the sap into a resin, the effects only increasing. he imagined it must have had something to do with the Shodai's Mokuton Chakra running through the trees in Konoha.

However as he looked down at the body, the paling flesh a few inches from him, his hands only shook. Despite knowing what he had to do, he couldn't… his body refused to do anything. And again, he sat there and he just looked, as if he could make all these things happen without having to touch her. Then, as though some invisible switch had been flipped in his mind, his hands began to move without him realising it. They moved numbly through familiar, worn hand seals for a simple d-ranked wind technique he used to cut wood into shape. Then, eyes glazed and not entirely focused, he breathed out, cutting a single straight line down Kin's stomach.

There was less blood than he would have imagined.

It was like he was on auto-pilot, simply checking things off a list as he did them. His hands moved autonomously as his eyes drifted lazily about, sightless and dull, but clinical in their approach. He worked tirelessly through the night, not caring when he felt the first calls of sleep pull at the back of his mind, not paying attention when his stomach growled for food. There was only his hands and the body in front of him; not a human… just an incomplete puppet. There was a ticking in the back of his mind and he knew it wouldn't go away until it was complete, until he finished her.

It was only when it was all over, when he could finally look down at his hands and actually _see _the blood on them that reality snapped back into focus. His breath, like had been stolen from him for a few minutes, suddenly slipped back into his lungs as he let out a stifled gasp, falling backwards onto the floor and just staring at his blood soaked hands. Kin simply stared at him from her now up-right sitting position, starring down at him with glassy eyes, mocking him with her now permanent smile.

"O-Oh Kami." Naruto couldn't look away, his eyes were fixed on her motionless form; she just sat there, waiting… waiting for him to use her. Naruto immediately rolled over, emptying his stomach on the floor again and retching until there was nothing left to expunge. His hands gave out from under him and he rolled back onto his back, lying next to his own vomit and staring up at the ceiling. Except he wasn't seeing it; all he could see was Kin's smiling face, still waiting. He felt something warm on his cheeks only to realise he was crying; he wasn't sure when he had started.

He sent the rest of that night curled in on himself in the corner, unwilling to look up because he knew she would be sitting there. She was unable to close _her _eyes after all; she would always be looking. However his eyes did drift to the scroll in his pocket; each time they did he felt bile rising in his throat.

He couldn't, not again.

* * *

Kakashi arrived on the final day of the second exam in a good mood; why shouldn't he be after all? The new Icha Icha sequel was slated for release in a week, his cute little genin had managed to pass in a single day which earned him quite a bit of money off the bets the Jounin sensei had made and best of all he hadn't had to deal with his team's 'interesting' dynamic for a whole five days. Yeah, it was all looking up for Hatake; that was why he wore his signature eye-smile as he alighted amongst the other sensei on the balcony in the lowest level of Training Ground Forty-Four's tower. Naturally he was almost an hour late so the Hokage had finished with his speech and the chuunin candidates were making their way up to the balcony.

"How are we doing my cute little genin?" He asked, far more chipper than he had any right to be. Much as he expected he was immediately blanked by all three of his genin. Sasuke walked right passed him with a small grunt of acknowledgment, hands in pockets. Naruto simply slid by like a ghost, hood up and goggles over his eyes; however his features were far colder than Kakashi remembered seeing them. Surprisingly Sakura was the same, slipping by him with her head down, her hair rather messy and falling across her face. Her eyes were half-lidded and she looked rather tired.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Kakashi inquired congenially, his genuine concern not quite reaching his voice making him come off flippant and insincere. Sakura simply sighed and leaned on the bannister, letting her head droop slightly as she looked down at the arena floor with half-lidded eyes.

"I'm okay sensei, just a little tired." The girl replied drowsily. Kakashi nodded with another eye-smile, turning away to chat to some of the other Sensei and never noticing how some of the tension seemed to just dissipate from Naruto's shoulders. All eyes turned to the front of the room where the electronic board had finished cycling through names, stopping on Lee, the spandex-clad boy from before and another Konoha-ninja that was older than them. Apparently the chuunin Naruto had overheard had been wrong; there _were _enough candidates for a preliminary round.

There were sixteen remaining chuunin prospects in total; all the rookie teams as well as Team Nine had made it through. There was also an older Konoha team from which two members had quickly dropped out due to injuries, leaving only Lee's current opponent. There was also the Sand team with the redhead Naruto had noticed before as well as a second Suna squad; however they had all dropped out immediately, sending wary glances at the redhead the entire time. It didn't exactly make Naruto any less cautious of the boy.

The first fight of the preliminaries was disappointingly quick, with Lee showing incredible prowess in Taijutsu. His opponent, the only older Konoha genin to make it this far, was attempting to use what appeared to be a Chakra draining technique on the bowl-cut boy. However for whatever reason it didn't appear to have any effect on Lee, allowing him to mop up his opponent with brutal and efficient Taijutsu. It ended with his opponent in a crater on the ground and a touching, if not highly disturbing moment between Lee and his Sensei. Naruto might have mistaken them for some horrible cloning accident if they hadn't been informed otherwise by their Sensei, who seemed suspiciously de-sensitized to the whole display.

The names began to cycle again and Kakashi's attention was promptly diverted as Sakura pulled on his flak jacket.

"Sensei, do you mind if I rest a little? Can you wake me up when my match is called?" The pinkette asked in that same subdued voice from before; she really did look tired. Kakashi had been informed that she was injured during the second exam and had required treatment but he didn't know the extent of it. He simply gave the girl a nod to which she returned as thankful smile before moving over to the wall of the balcony and sliding down into a sitting position with her legs tucked up against her chest. Her head dropped down and within moments it looked as though she was asleep; Kakashi simply smiled, thinking she must have stayed up worrying about the third test.

He couldn't think on it any longer though as one of his students was finally called up. He gave Naruto an encouraging pat on the shoulder as he walked by but the boy didn't even seem to acknowledge it. If Kakashi hadn't known any better he would have said even Naruto looked more tired than usual, but with the permenant shadows under that boy's eyes, not to mention the concealing goggles, it was difficult to tell anything. Of course his thoughts were immediately de-railed by a far more exhuberant pat on his own back, courtesy of Maito Gai himself.

"Isn't this excellent Kakashi my friend? We are able to watch our own students pit their flames of youth against one another. Is there a more joyous sight?" Kakashi looked past the crying man to note that it was indeed Gai's student Naruto was paired up against.

Down on the arena floor Tenten was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, an excited gleam in her eye as her fingers moved restlessly. It was in stark contrast to Naruto, who stood there more akin to a statue than a living organism, his body motionless as he waited for the proctor to begin the match. As soon as the arm came down Tenten sprang into action by launching a lethally precise salvo of kunai at the blonde. Naruto didn't even move and a moment later every single kunai hit home, except they passed right through the younger boy as his body faded away. Tenten's eyes widened as she realised she had been fooled by a clone before whirling at a voice.

"I hope you don't mind being used as somewhat of a guinea pig, but I am unused to this particular puppet in a fight; it may take me a moment to get the hang of it." Naruto's dull, lifeless tone drifted across the arena from seemingly no one place, forcing Tenten's eyes to dart about to locate him; the audience were confused too. However before any of them resorted to using Doujutsu to locate him he emerged from the floor, seemingly melting out of it which caused Kakashi's eye to widen. He had never taught Naruto the Subterranean Voyage Jutsu.

However one particular occupant in the room was staring at the boy like he had grown a second head. Kankuro was telling himself that he had to have heard wrong; there was no way the boy had said he was using a puppet…

"I haven't even named her yet, although I'm leaning towards Kane." Naruto emotionlessly intoned, creeping Tenten out as he reached for a scroll in his jacket. She was about to stop him with another barrage of weaponry only to catch movement out the corner of her eye. She turned on a dime and instead released her kunai on the Naruto behind her, only for it to be revealed as a clone, simply a distraction. It bought Naruto enough time to unseal Kin's body; although it would have been unrecognisable as such to most.

Gone was the naturally pale skin tone, instead dyed a deeper beige by the resin to give her an almost tanned appearance. However her skin appeared unnatural and shiny, looking more synthetic than normal flesh; which of course, was the point. Her previously neatly tied hair was let loose, scattering like a billowing black shroud around the puppet and partially masking her face. However what could be seen showed dark, glassy eyes of a pure obsidian black as well as a permanent smile seemingly carved into her face by way of her articulated jaw.

Up in the spectators' balcony three of the Suna shinobi present gaped at the sight, not quite able to believe their eyes as they saw genuine Sunagakure puppeteering techniques used by a Leaf-nin. Not only that, but the boy was a mere genin whose Sensei was known to be Kakashi of the Sharingan, who was certainly no puppeteer. Kankuro especially was glaring down at the boy, his fingers digging into the balcony's railings and his knuckles turning white.

Down in the arena Tenten wasn't doing much better, staring at the human-like puppet in confusion. Kin, or 'Kane', began going through a range of test motions, from flexing her arms and legs to taking a few tentative steps forward; her unsettling expression never changing; not that it could. The puppet itself was wearing a set of Naruto's clothing as he had little else on hand, which meant a fishnet shirt with a vest thrown over, but buttoned up of course. All of the clothes looked tattered and worn, like they had been intentionally ripped; which they had been. It only served to raise the creepiness the human facsimile gave off as Naruto stood behind it, face like it was carved out of stone.

"Okay, now I'm ready." Naruto spoke after a few moments of deafening silence, snapping Tenten out of her confusion as a menacing grin overcame her lips.

"You better be doll boy." From the stadium Kankuro gave an indignant yell, only to realise for once that the insult was not aimed at him and continued scowling at the hooded blonde. Naruto on the other hand ignored the taunt, focusing on the way he moved his fingers; controlling Kin was like controlling no other puppet he had ever created or used. However in a way, she was exactly like the puppets he used; although it took him long enough to figure that out once he had gotten over her creation in the first place. Since then Naruto had felt an odd detachment from himself and the things he did; like they weren't really his own actions.

He controlled his puppets by using controlled bursts of Chakra sent along his threads by way of specific finger movements or combinations. These activated and manipulated the seal arrays strewn through the puppets which in turn controlled specific processes of the puppet. Kin was different, using her felt wrong; she wasn't _his_ puppet, it was more like he was forcing her body into position than guiding it there. However it was the same principle; he found he could actively control her Chakra network in the same way he controlled the seal arrays in his own creations.

The Chakra network was like the most complicated sealing array Naruto could have ever devised, forcing him to simplify it into more manageable tasks and commands through gestures and motions. That was another thing that Naruto felt was wrong with using a human puppet; not only did he _not_ create it so he knew nothing of its full intricacies, but it felt like he was soiling it. He was bastardizing such a beautifully complex and detailed piece of art into ugly, simple tasks that were just… beneath it. Naruto felt he shouldn't be devolving humans into puppets; the complexity of a human was what he should be aiming for in _his _puppets.

However beggars could not be choosers and Naruto had little other choice but to use what he had on hand. Tenten learned this the hard way as she began to launch barrage after barrage of seemingly endless kunai, and that was coming from a puppeteer who knew a little something about improbable supplies of weaponry. However Kin was always right there, arms raised to deflect every single attack with her reinforced arms. She moved much faster than when she was alive, thanks to both Naruto's skill and her sudden lightness. However her movements were noticeably jerky, showing Naruto's inexperience dealing with this form of puppetry.

All the same she was an adequate shield for even the heaviest rain of kunai and shuriken and as long as she was there to intercept every barrage, it mattered little how lethally accurate Tenten was. He had to hand it to the girl though, she began to get creative quickly, using kunai to actually deflect the paths of other mid-air projectiles in order to try and blind-side him. Of course Kin was easily manoeuvrable enough and he always kept her close to him enough for it to not become an issue. Even as the match progressed it was obvious to see he was becoming more and more comfortable with her use; her movements became more fluid and his defences more creative.

It was only when Tenten finally seemed to run out of her innumerable weapons and was reaching for a scroll that Naruto turned to the offensive. From personal experience he knew allowing an opponent to retrieve a scroll for any reason was usually a mistake; the Oto team learned that well enough. Kin suddenly darted forward, moving at speeds Naruto himself couldn't have matched, and was suddenly within Tenten's guard, shocking the girl and forcing her to jump back. It was too late though, the damage was done as evidence by a thin red line suddenly appearing under her torn Chinese-styled shirt.

"You might want to forfeit the match within the next few seconds." Naruto suddenly called out, still in that droll monotone as he had Kin return to his side, confusing his opponent when he failed to press the offensive. Tenten simply looked at him like was crazy; she had barely even felt the scratch under her chest and he wanted her to forfeit? Up in the stands Sasuke placed his face in his hands, knowing what Naruto had done and already knowing the match was over. Most of the spectators on the other hand looked just as confused as Tenten, however Kankuro was still fuming; perhaps even more so than before.

"Pfft kid, I don't know what kind of opponents you've face before but if you think a little scratch like this will… will… wi-" Tenten suddenly trailed off as her eyelids drooped; a burning sensation was spreading out from her stomach, numbing her body and causing her mind to become fuzzy. She valiantly hung on for all of four seconds before her body slumped uselessly to one side, the scroll she had been holding rolling away from her. Naruto walked over to her prone body, flipped a small syringe out of his pocket with a small flourish and quickly stabbed it into her stomach, just below the cut. Then, as the onlookers watched on with a mix of confusion and shock, he simply walked up to his spot on the balcony.

Then, as the proctor got over his surprise and actually called the match, it was like some kind of barrier had been withdrawn that had been holding the tongues of the spectators. The Rookies clamoured to their Sensei to work out just what had happened while Gai and his mini-me were quick to recover Tenten's unconscious form, shouting about her fiery youth or something along those lines. However it was the Suna team that was the most vocal as Kankuro glared across at the stoic blonde.

"What the hell is this?! How does a Konoha brat know puppeteering?" The kabuki-painted boy exclaimed roughly, pointing across the arena with angry gestures with one hand while the other reached towards the large wrapped bundle on his back with the other. Even the boy's Sensei, a tall man wearing a veil over half his face and the standard Suna Jounin attire, was looking over at the Hokage.

"What is the meaning of this Hokage?!" The stocky man called out, his visible eye narrowed dangerously at the older man. However even as the room broke out into clamouring and no one person could hear their thoughts over the noise, the Hokage simply stood there, his gaze neutral as he gently puffed on his pipe like he was sitting in his office and not standing atop a potential international incident.

"QUIET DOWN!" Anko suddenly yelled, her eye twitching in annoyance as she projected her voice with Chakra to the point where some of the genin were forced to cover their ears. There was immediate quiet, allowing everybody to hear as Hiruzen cleared his throat softly and turn to the purple-haired proctor with a small smile.

"Thank you Anko-Chan." The woman simply beamed that murderous smile as the aged Kage turned back to address everybody assembled. "Now, I understand that there may be some issues that may need to be addressed; however I believe that these concerns can surely wait until after the preliminary rounds are over. I would be more than happy to use my time to assuage any concerns the Sunagakure delegates may have in my office, _not _while in the presence of those it does not concern." Sending a neutral gaze around the room, the Hokage finally nodded when he saw everybody was settled. "Now Hayate-kun, if you would." He motioned to the sickly looking man who had been handling the preliminaries so far who coughed into his hand at the sudden attention.

"Ah, right Hokage-Sama; well then the next contestants will be…" He looked up to the cycling screen as it finally came to a rest on two names, one of the boys in question immediately gulping. "…Akamichi Chouji and Uchiha Sasuke." Both boys descended to the arena floor, one with a great deal more hesitance than the other; however the match's outcome might as well have been pre-ordained. It didn't even look like Chouji wanted to be there but nevertheless they all watched him go through the motions.

Predictably it was over in a flash; Choiju just couldn't keep up with Sasuke's speed and was on the ground groaning within the minute. Sasuke just left the arena looking unsatisfied and irritated by the lack of challenge. He never noticed the way that the Hokage and Anko had been staring at him intently, as if search for something that wasn't there and it confused them as to why not. Anko in particular continued glancing at him every so often, rubbing at her neck as she did so; was what she had been told a lie? However everybody's attentions were diverted as the electronic board once again came to a stop on the next two names.

"Sakura…" The pinkette raised her head groggily to look up at her Sensei who simply motioned with his head to the board. "Looks like you're up, knock 'em dead." Kakashi encouraged with a bright eye-smile. The way his genin were going he was going to easily beat the other Jounin with their bets. Already he had been sending sly looks at both Gai and Asuma as their genin were summarily trumped by his own without much issue. Of course, he couldn't exactly claim to be the reason they had done so, what with Sasuke being a prodigy by his own right and Naruto having learned all his skills by himself… but hey; they didn't need to know that. Plus, it looked like Sakura had gotten her best possible pairing.

"Well well forehead, looks like it's me and you; I'm not even all that surprised. It's just another opportunity for me to show Sasuke how much better for him I am." Ino exclaimed with an absent flick of her head, a confident smirk alighting on her features. Sakura on the other hand simply sank into a ready position, her messy hair covering most of her face save for a half-lidded eye.

"Can we just get started?" Her tired voice sounded out, causing Ino to frown before simply rationalising it away as some kind of fake-out tactic; Sakura wouldn't get the drop on her so easily. Up in the balcony Kakashi sent a glance to both his other genin, noticing them both watching the match intently, even if neither of their faces showed much of any emotion. He was rather proud of his students; for each of their individual matches so far the others had watched on supportingly, save Sakura of course but he could understand if she was drained and a little shell-shocked from the forest. Still; he only imagined it would serve to make her tougher in the future.

On that note the proctor finally decided to start the match and before Ino could launch into another short monologue, Sakura dashed forward with speed that surprised the blonde. The pinkette certainly hadn't been this fast leaving the academy; however up with the spectators Kakashi grinned under his mask, it was already looking like another easy win. Ino brought up a kunai in time to divert Sakura's, which the girl had flipped out of her holster with an unusual flourish. There was a brief stalemate between the two as Sakura tried to drive the kunai down while Ino held her back.

"What's the matter forehead? Do you need to go all out to begin with because you know you have no chance to beat me otherwise?" Ino managed to grind out between gritted teeth; when had Sakura become so strong? However she managed to divert the weapon away from her and jump back with a flip only to find Sakura charging her down again. She launched a flurry of shuriken, only a few of them on target, but Sakura slid under them without much difficulty. Even with her hair covering a lot of her face she seemed to have an excellent awareness of the arena. Then, suddenly, they were close again, engaging in a medium-paced bought of Taijutsu. It was quickly shown Ino was the faster and more flexible of the two, however Sakura was stronger and didn't even seem to notice half the blows that landed; they seemed very evenly matched.

The silent Taijutsu match continued on for another minute, with neither girl gaining any kind of advantage over the other until Ino suddenly found an opportunity to slip her hand into her pouch. It came back out with a few shuriken held between her knuckles which she quickly slashed up with. Sakura was quick to respond, bringing her arms up to cover her face, only for Ino to smirk in victory as she left three small gashes up the girl's forearm. Sakura leapt back to make room, her face twisting into a pained expression a moment later, although the delay wasn't noticed by anybody but Ino who was busier with other things.

"How's that feel forehead? Ready to forfeit yet?" Ino called out smugly as Sakura gripped at the bleeding wounds, her face still twisted into an expression of annoyance. She said nothing though, simply reaching over and tearing off one of her short sleeves to use as a makeshift bandage. Ino grimaced at that, re-setting her stance as the two rushed towards one another. Another bout of Taijutsu ensued but it was clear Sakura was favouring her uninjured arm and Ino was quick to take advantage, showing close-quarters combat wouldn't work for the pinkette.

She jumped back at the same moment Ino let loose with a handful of kunai that were right on target. Of course they were rather slow and would have been simple to dodge, but that was the point, Ino was only trying to drive Sakura towards the wall so she could finish this with her now superior Taijutsu. That might have been how it went, if Naruto's fingers didn't suddenly twitch in a very different way. All at once a multitude of things occurred, Sakura made to dodge, only to place her foot right on one of the discarded kunai from Tenten's fight with Naruto earlier. Ino's eyes widened in alarm as the kunai neared, Sakura suddenly unable to dodge as her ankle twisted and she stumbled.

There was a wet squelch and numerous small thudding noises before the entire arena went quiet save for the single sound of Sakura's body falling to the floor. Then there was a flurry of activity; Kakashi leaped the railing and ran to his student at the same moment the medic-nin rushed onto the scene, looking over the girl's body frantically. However one didn't have to be a medic-nin to know that a kunai through the heart, another through the throat and a few more over various places in her body was not a good thing. Even as they rapidly moved her onto a stretcher their faces were grim.

Ino slumped to the ground, her eyes wide and unseeing as she truly contemplated what she had just done. Kakashi was much the same, staring after the girl's limp body as she was carried out with a wide eye and mildly trembling hands. He was whispering something to himself but nobody could hear him, not that they were trying. Immediately the Jounin Sensei of the rookies were turning to their students, reassuring them that Sakura would be fine and they didn't need to worry. Ino was gently lead away from the arena floor by Asuma while the entire arena was restored to some modicum of calm; however shock still hung over everybody present.

However for one hooded blonde, the only sound that could be heard escaping his lips was a quiet, relieved sigh. His face showed the adequate shock that would be needed; after all he only had to dredge up the memories of how he first found Sakura and his features naturally realigned themselves. However internally he was roiling with emotion; part of him was disgusted for what he had just had to do. Another part though, that only increased his disgust, was actually slightly proud that he had managed to accomplish it.

Learning from Kin's body that he could manipulate her movements through her Chakra circulatory system directly was a Godsend. If he manipulated it in the right way then he could cause any bodily function to re-start without a command from the brain; in that way he had kept Sakura's heart pumping and her lungs breathing long after death. For all intents and purposes, Sakura had been alive for the last few hours; the medics would find nothing amiss with her death. However as Naruto saw Kakashi walk back up the stairs to them, his face blank and indecipherable, he felt a stabbing sensation in his chest he couldn't explain.

"K-Kakashi-Sensei?" That would be the first emotion other than irritation or amusement Kakashi had ever heard from the young puppeteer and it barely even registered. "Is Sakura going to be okay?" Naruto asked quietly; the look he got from the man in return was all he needed to see and he quickly slumped against the wall, his face almost copying Kakashi's blank mask feature for feature. However while it was mostly an act, the confusion he felt inside was all too real.

Now it was over; what was he supposed to feel?

What _did _he feel?


	11. Straining seams

**I don't own it and I might never; you wanna know why?... because I might have Rabies! No joke!**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"__Shouldn't the low strings be at the bottom?" - Jules Shear_

* * *

There was a twenty minute reprieve given to the contestants after Sakura's 'death', allowing them time to both come to terms with what had happened, and for a small team of chuunin to adequately clear the arena of both debris and blood. It was mostly silent in the large room save for the sounds of the chuunin working and a few hushed whispers. Only the sand team seemed particularly unperturbed with the development, uncaring for the loss of a single Konoha kunoichi, even if the Sand and Leaf were supposed to be allies. Finally though they couldn't put the proceedings off any longer and the board began its inevitable cycle through the remaining names.

"Naruto…" Kakashi started as he saw his student push off the wall he had been slumped against for the better part of the last twenty minutes. "You don't have to force yourself to do anything." At some point over the break Naruto had removed his goggles, letting them hang from around his neck so that Kakashi could see his stony blue eyes.

"It's fine Sensei." Everything about the blonde seemed muted all of a sudden; his tone, the way he stood, even his usually vibrant hair seemed dulled. "I'm still a part of this competition aren't I?" He intoned slowly, as if testing each word before allowing them to roll over his lips without any real lustre or emotion. Kakashi wanted to say something then, maybe a reassurance? Perhaps a condolence? He might have even asked Naruto how he was feeling. However the grey-haired Jounin had never been a paragon of emotional stability, nor of handling grief particularly well. In the end he just nodded quietly and turned a dark eye on the arena himself as the board finally stopped on two names.

"Come on Akamaru, let's just do this." Kiba growled out as he stared across the arena at his opponent; his own voice lacked its usual unquenchable enthusiasm. The small white dog riding in his jacket gave a subdued yip of approval, having read the tone of the room. They hopped over the railing at the same moment Kankuro did, or 'Sabaku no Kankuro' as the board named him. Naruto wondered what he had to do to get an epitaph like that; it seemed rather generic for a Sunagakure Shinobi.

"So you're my opponent? All that wait for a mutt… oh, and his dog of course." Kankuro sniped, his features set into a scowl as one hand impatiently drummed against the wrapped bundle on his back. Kiba naturally fell for the taunt, brash and impatient hothead that he was, and growled something unintelligible that may or may not have been for the benefit of Akamaru more than the spectators. Naruto just sighed; he and the rest of the rookies knew an angered Kiba was both more and less dangerous. His attacks became wilder and more vicious, but they lost precision; that would be fatal if Naruto's suspicions over Kankuro proved true.

The match was started and immediately Kiba bull-rushed his opponent without a second thought, going down on all fours like the dogs the Inuzuka were so linked to. Kankuro only seemed briefly startled by the burst of speed, Kiba appearing within his guard in only a few seconds. He leaned back, but obviously not enough to escape the reach of Kiba's suddenly clawed hands as they raked up his face, causing more than a few of the genin to wince. However Kankuro only stumbled back, not even crying out in pain; it was quickly revealed why when his 'face' crumbled away.

Behind it lay a disturbing and decidedly wooden, three-eyed visage that suddenly began chattering an unsettling manner. Naruto blinked as he saw the rest of the disguise fall away; at least his theory had been proven correct. There was another puppeteer at the exams; that was… interesting. It lurched forward, looking to grab Kiba which likely wouldn't have ended well given how many concealed weapons it likely held. However Kiba was fast enough to jump back, obviously not rash enough to engage the obviously unknown threat.

Behind the puppet Kankuro emerged from the wrapped bundle, confirming another of Naruto's suspicions at the same time; he was just learning so much right now. As much as Sakura's deaths, both real and fake, had confused and muddled his emotions the chance to see a real life Sunagakure puppeteer, even if he was only a genin, was a childhood dream of his. Although Naruto had to say his decision was likely a bad one; knowing Kiba he would have left the bundle alone, quite happy to chase the puppet about every which way like a dog with a toy. Unless of course Kankuro could not control the puppet from within the bandages; in which case why begin the match like that? Unless it was some kind of quick substitution… Naruto's mind was just awhirl with thoughts watching this battle.

"Heh! You use dolls like Naruto; this should be a piece of cake!" Kiba's comment made both Naruto and Kankuro's eyebrows twitch simultaneously. Naruto had to fight down the urge to point out that every time he had successfully snuck a puppet into the Taijutsu spars, Kiba had never once beaten him. Kankuro, unused to the Inuzuka's boastful ways, took a little more offense to the comment.

"Please, like you could ever call a cheap imitation like that real puppeteering; and it certainly isn't playing with dolls! Let me show you how it's really done." Kankuro responded, the sneer plastered over his features stretching out his stylised face paint. Naruto's brow twitched again, wondering why everybody suddenly felt the urge to insult him.

"Whatever, come on Akamaru, let's go!" It at least seemed that Kiba had learned something from growing up with Naruto, to attack the puppeteer and not the toy. In this open and cover-less arena, a puppeteer couldn't hide, making them a sitting duck unless they had other means to defend or conceal themselves. It seemed Kankuro didn't, as evidenced by the look of shock on his face as both Kiba and Akamaru barrelled towards him. It quickly turned into a smirk though as his fingers began to dance.

Naruto wasn't sure why he had been expecting to understand the pattern of the other puppeteer's fingers. Maybe he was seeking validation for his own style through a pre-established one? In any case the movement of Kankuro's fingers was complete gibberish to him; it was like trying to understand a new language the first time hearing it. It almost made the blonde feel silly for concealing his fingers with his too-long jacket; then again, it did help to hide the ruse he pulled with Sakura's body. Then something different swelled within him, pride; he had created an entirely new style of puppeteering separate from Suna's. Whether or not it was superior remained to be seen.

Kankuro's puppet suddenly interjected itself between Kiba and the puppeteer, still chattering away in that obnoxious manner. Naruto briefly wondered if all Suna puppets did that; it was actually rather irritating. Various compartments opened up along the constructs rather barrel-like body, it certainly wasn't winning prizes for aesthetics, and began launching tightly-packed bundles of senbon. Again the blonde was forced to wonder if that was a design choice; it was certainly more intimidating but a wider spread increased the likelihood of contact.

Perhaps Kankuro lacked faith in his poison? Naruto had often wondered what kind of chemicals Suna could make considering their landscape's severe lacking when it came to plant life. Seeing the viscous purple liquid dripping off the metal implements as they clattered to the ground, Naruto hazarded a guess at animal venom. In any case Kiba and Akamaru, now bearing a startling resemblance to his master through the use of a special clone technique, were able to dodge the hail of weaponry by twisting their body abruptly until they resembled twin tornadoes.

"Gatsuuga!" With a shared cry, man and dog sheared straight through the barrage of weaponry, taking out one of the puppet's four arms in the process. However with a yank on his threads, which Naruto could occasionally see glinting in the light much to his amusement, the puppet jerked back over to its master. That was another thing bugging Naruto; the puppet had the uncanny ability to hover mid-air as well as fly about at Kankuro's command. He desperately wanted to know how the boy was doing that and whether or not it was a trait of Suna puppeteering or unique to that puppet.

Kiba broke off his attack, the two spinning Inuzuka suddenly separating and ricocheting off the floor. However it was a diversion as the dog-like genin managed to slip a smoke bomb onto the ground, filling the area around Kankuro with a noxious and thick purple smoke. Almost immediately Kiba started up his attack again and soon the two rapidly spinning tornados were bouncing in and out of the smoke cloud. They left craters everywhere they hit, showing just how devastating the attack was. Naruto had never seen the attack before; it made him wonder when the rash braggart from the academy had grown up and become a serious contender for chuunin.

Finally Kiba skidded to a stop, Akamaru mirroring him on the other side of the smoke cloud as the henge finally wore off. The thick cloud of smoke was finally dying down and Kiba grinned victoriously as Akamaru bounded over to him with a happy bark.

"Yeah, there's no way he's standing after that boy." Kiba asserted, allowing the small white puppy to jump up on top of his head like the strangest furry hat one had ever seen. However a chuckle broke through his reverie, the smoke finally clearing enough to reveal the puppet still standing at the centre of it all. It was battered and missing two more limbs but it was still operational, proven when Kankuro suddenly climbed out of its chest cavity making Naruto click his tongue in irritation. So he wasn't the only one to have thought of hiding within his puppet as a defensive measure; figures.

"Hah, if you think Karasu would be destroyed from such a weak attack then you're underestimating the Suna puppet corp!" Kankuro asserted, a bit muffled due to the cloth he was holding up to his mouth for some reason. Kiba simply glared at the other boy as he motioned for Akamaru to hop down again.

"It doesn't matter now that you've gotten out; come on boy, let's get him!" However when Akamaru only gave a whimper in response the Inuzuka looked up worriedly. "What's wrong Akamaru?" The dog slumped in his spiky brown hair, weakly trying to get up only to have its limbs fail it. A moment later and Kiba felt the very same effects travel through his body, causing his limbs to feel like lead.

"Heh, it was too easy to slip some vaporised poison into that convenient smoke screen you provided and you were gracious enough to throw yourself headfirst into it a few times too. You're just lucky I didn't use anything lethal otherwise the pup there would have more than just a bit of trouble moving." Kankuro sneered, already walking back towards the stands, passing the proctor along the way. "Call it, the mutt's done for." Just like he said Kiba only managed to stumble a few paces forward, glaring so hard that Kankuro almost felt it, before falling forward.

"B-Bastard." Kiba managed weakly before passing out from the drug in his bloodstream; it only earned a derisive chuckle from Kankuro who seemed more interested in sending challenging glances Naruto's way. The blonde gave the Suna puppeteer nothing back, staring forward with a stony face that betrayed nothing of his thoughts. He was more interested in what Kankuro had shown, intentionally or not, than any assumed challenge between the two. Yes it would be interesting to pit his style against the very techniques that inspired him, but not his end goal. No, he had a much larger target than some fresh genin that was likely at the lowest rung in the puppeteer corp. As he was thinking the board began to cycle through the remaining names again.

"Troublesome." Naruto glanced over, snapped out of his thoughts as Shikamaru lazily slinked by him, sending furtive glances over at his opponent. Said opponent scowled at everything as he vanished in a swirl of sand, reappearing down on the arena floor and following Shikamaru's slow progress to the floor with an intense gaze. It wasn't a particularly long or interesting match if Naruto was honest with himself. Gaara _did _show frightening control over the sand he kept contained within his gourd as well as what seemed to be some kind of automatic three hundred and sixty degree defense.

However after a few minutes of Shikamaru testing Gaara's defence, finding out that Gaara could still direct his sand while restrained and generally avoiding being pummelled into a bloody paste by the unrelenting substance, he finally just raised his hand and surrendered. It was obviously a lost cause; nothing he could do would reach Gaara, he wasn't fast or strong enough to breach the seemingly impenetrable sand and it was fairly obvious that the longer he stayed in the arena with the clearly unbalanced Suna genin, the higher the chance that he would be crushed without mercy.

Gaara for one seemed particularly irritated he had been denied the satisfying conclusion to his fight, muttering to himself disconcertingly the entire way back to his spot on the other balcony. Naruto suddenly felt glad he had the length of the room separating him from that psycho; he couldn't imagine what would have happened had he tried to face the boy with only Kin as his puppet. Others seemed to share his opinion as more than a few unsettled glances were thrown Gaara's way, all ignored as the boy seemed more content to talk to himself and glare at nothing.

"Eep." A surprised squeak was the only sign Naruto got that another pair of genin had been chosen before a vaguely blueish blur hurried past him nervously. The Sand Kunoichi on the other hand chose a more extravagant way of getting to the floor, vaulting the railing and landing with a flourish of the long metal object she carried. It seemed to be a common trait of the Suna team, carrying heavy objects as their weapons; was Suna really that far behind on their sealing knowledge?

"I've heard of the Hyuuga clan." Temari, as the board introduced her, started up, cutting off the proctor before he could begin the match. "You're supposed to be undefeatable in close-quarters combat or something, plus you have those funky eyes right?" Hinata just shrank back on herself, her fingers coming up and pressing together nervously under the more confident kunoichi's harsh gaze. "I don't see it. All I see is a little girl playing ninja." The sandy-haired Kunoichi smirked and brought the massive metal bar around with a spin, opening it slightly to reveal it was a giant fan with a single blue circle inscribed on it.

"Well don't worry girl, you won't get close enough for that to be an issue, I can promise you." Temari finished with an arrogant smirk; the proctor simply looked over in annoyance as if asking if he could start the match yet. He did so and as his arm descended Temari was already in motion, bringing the fan around in a great swinging arc. From the balcony Naruto watched on in interest; he had read up on a few different Suna styles among puppeteering and he wondered how a fan-user would compare with a Hyuuga.

Hinata at least wasn't immediately defeated, she managed to jump out the way of the initial blast of wind that would have easily picked up her body and sent it crashing into the far wall. It wasn't particularly graceful and when she picked herself up Naruto couldn't help but notice that she was sending furtive glances towards the section of the balcony holding Gai's team. It was a shame really; Naruto was actually rather interested in the Byakugan from an objective standpoint. People could argue about Doujutsu all they liked and whether or not the Sharingan was superior.

In Naruto's eyes it was no contest; the ability to see that far in every direction as well as through objects and people in minute detail… it was a Puppeteers dream. He wouldn't have to stay so close to his puppets to control them and it would make integrating more intricate systems far easier. Not to mention they could see through genjutsu, a personal bane of his and a weakness brought to his attention during his confrontation with the Oto team. It seemed that Hinata only just realised this as she got to her feet, facing Temari and shifting into some semblance of a stance.

"B-Byakugan!" Her timid cry barely reached those leaning right up against the balcony like Naruto but the change was significant. This time when Temari launched a wind blast Hinata was able to see the Chakra in it immediately, showing her the exact boundary of the blade-like projection of wind. Her movement was more fluid as she slipped around the blast. Motions that seemed ingrained deep in her muscle memory easily guided her around the next swing and she was even able to slide under the third, more desperate and larger blast Temari sent when she saw her attacks were becoming less effective.

However Hinata seemed hesitant to press any advantage she had, simply dodging the attacks instead of trying to move into a closer range so her Taijutsu would actually be effective. Again she kept sending those nervous glances up into the crowd, causing Naruto to look over and see the other Hyuuga, the one they had met before the first exam, glaring down at her. He returned to staring at Hinata intently, her movements fascinating him as he wondered just what she was seeing through those eyes of hers. Hinata's gaze slid over to him as she seemed to catch his intent look, blinking in surprise.

The blonde wasn't exactly sure what happened at that moment but it seemed for the better. Hinata appeared to re-affirm her stance, her eyes setting into a modicum of determination. Meanwhile Temari finally seemed to realise her current tactics were ineffective and seemed in the process of opening her battle-fan up more. Hinata finally pressed the attack, running forward in that brief lull between wind blasts. Temari swung wildly but Hinata's hand just glowed with Chakra; a quick swipe down at the right moment cut a gap right through the wind blast large enough for the petite Hyuuga to slip through and suddenly she was right inside Temari's guard.

Temari proved to be no slouch with her weapon in close-combat, however there was a reason Hyuuga were so feared in Taijutsu. It was little known, but because the Byakugan allowed them to actually see their opponent's Chakra system, they were able to see the flow of their enemies Chakra, actually anticipating their movements somewhat. That, combined with the devastatingly efficient Jyuuken that could lock down the tenketsu and prevent said Chakra flow, made them nearly unsurpassed at close range. Only the Uchiha, with the Sharingan's predictive abilities, were able to keep up with them in Taijutsu, and often even they weren't enough.

Sure enough the Jyuuken proved superior here as Temari was caught off guard by Hinata suddenly diverting her fan to one side with an unexpected and well-placed palm strike. The fan swung wide and for a fraction of a moment Temari's mid-section was completely exposed. In that instant Naruto was privy to what few had seen outside of the Hyuuga compound and survived to tell about it. Hinata's hands moved as blurs, her pupil-less eyes darting about at the same speed as she closed one, then two, then four tenketsu all in a row. She didn't stop there though, using Temari shock and surprise against her as she took advantage of the girl's sudden immobilisation to finish her off.

"I-I'm not playing ninja." Hinata managed, some semblance of actual confidence managing to come through in her voice as Temari dropped to the ground, her face seemingly frozen in an expression of shock. Over on the balcony Kankuro was in a similar state, not at all having expected his sister to be taken out with such apparent ease. Funnily enough though a moment seemed to pass before the events caught up with Hinata, her face blooming into a brilliant red as she suddenly shrank back in on herself.

"Ah sorry!" She quickly bowed, leaving her teammates to groan quietly and Neji's glare to intensify. The timid Hyuuga quickly hurried out the arena however as she passed by Naruto, whose eyes still hadn't left the arena floor where Temari was being taken away, he swore he heard her mumble something like a thank you. He blinked, turning to ask her what she meant only to see she had scurried off back to her teammates, a virulent blush adorning her cheeks as she did her best imitation of a turtle, with her jacket being the shell.

He continued looking in her direction with a mild frown until he was suddenly shoved out of the way as Neji passed by him in the opposite direction. Naruto scowled in the older Hyuuga's direction but Neji barely even seemed to notice him, a firm grimace set on his usually impassive features. It was in stark contrast to his opponent as Shino too took to the arena floor, revealing nothing behind his high-collar jacket and reflective black lenses. Naruto had always had a sort of quiet respect for the passive Aburame; he was in the higher end of every subject in the academy yet he was never loud or boastful about it.

Of course in this instance it didn't particularly improve his chances against his current opponent, a prodigy in his own right and the previous graduating class' Rookie of the year. Normally Naruto didn't take stock in such titles but simply seeing the confident, disinterested way he stood and the calm, levelled glare he maintained with his faintly grey eyes; he knew Shino would be in for a tough fight. Wordlessly the long-haired boy activated his Byakugan, an impressive feat by its own right at his age, and with what looked suspiciously like a calming breath, he allowed a smirk to take the place of his scowl.

"You might as well give in now Aburame, I can see every one of the kikaichuu beetles swarming in your body, as well as the trap you were attempting to set up around me." A few of the spectators turned a little green at the knowledge there were insects inside of the Aburame, proven as a few scuttled out of what looked like tiny pores in his neck. However Shino remained impassive, titling his head slightly as the proctor raised his arm to initiate the fight.

"Seeing does not predicate being able to act. Why? Because sometimes you cannot trust your eyes." Shino replied in a monotonous tone, adjusting his glasses until they reflected the ceiling lights ominously. When the hand descended both boys immediately acted; however most were confused as Neji suddenly rushed in a seemingly random direction, Shino chasing after him. The Hyuuga vaulted through the air, again seemingly without reason, only for the part of the floor he jumped to suddenly come alive with tiny, crawling insects.

In a split second his body whirled around, his movements infinitely more graceful and perfectly coordinated than Hinata's. His fingers lashed out at thin air only for Shino to suddenly phase into existence upon contact, flinching back from the finger strike. Across the room the other 'Shino' dissolved into a swarming black mass of kikaichuu that immediately rushed to protect its master and hive. However Neji didn't stop with a single finger strike, he was unrelenting as his narrowed eyes darted from spot to spot, picking out the minute Tenketsu that controlled his opponent's vital Chakra flow. By the time he was done Shino was on the floor, a look of obvious pain straining to get past his stoic façade as Neji poised two fingers above a spot on his shoulder.

"Surrender, one more strike and I will have blocked off the necessary Chakra required to control your swarm; they will literally eat you from the inside." Neji stated coldly, his fingertips humming with a faint blue glow that was obviously more a show of force than part of any necessary measures for the Jyuuken. Shino quickly complied, seeing he was both outclassed and sorely underprepared to face an opponent as ruthless as Neji. Obviously being a teammate with Hinata hadn't helped him face a real Byakugan user, but then Hinata wasn't exactly the paragon, nor even the standard of the clan.

"I always trust my eyes; they see everything Aburame and they saw your defeat the moment you stood before me." Neji stated coldly as he walked away from the fight; yet again the loser needed to be carried out of the arena. It looked like Hinata wanted to rush and see her teammate but at that moment the winners of the preliminary fights were all called down to the arena floor where the Hokage addressed them.

"Congratulations all of you for advancing this far, in the final rounds of the Chuunin Exams you will finally be allowed to place all your honed battle skills and disciplines on display." Naruto caught the Hokage glancing across at him for a split second, a strange expression on the old man's face for a brief instance. "Accordingly, the final exam will take place one month from now." He waited for any kind of objections or comments but they never came, the genin simply stood waiting patiently, or in Hinata's case trying to appear as small and unnoticeable as possible.

"This should grant you all sufficient time to come up with new battle strategies for your opponents, as they are no longer unknowns as they have been so far. It will also be a good opportunity to rest up, take stock of your own abilities and evolve them accordingly." At that Naruto had to fight down a small smirk; evolving his abilities? Sounded good. "Now, before we can continue there is one more matter to attend to, everybody will need to take one of the pieces of paper from the box Anko here is holding." Said woman simply smirked in their direction, jiggling the simple wooden box she held and messing up the slips of paper inside.

"Hear that kiddies? Just stay where you are and I'll come along right up to you, okay?" She voiced with a practically feral grin before moving down the line of assembled genin until each of them had a slip. The blonde couldn't help but notice as he rummaged around in the box that Anko seemed to be eyeing him up intently, not even bothering to hide it. He glanced down at the slip in his hand, unfurling it to reveal the large and bold number six; looking down the line he saw the other competitors had similar numbers in their hands.

"Good good…" The Hokage started, taking a long drag of his pipe rather unprofessionally, before continuing "…if each contestant would call out their number then? One at a time of course." He looked to the end of the line where Kankuro stood.

"Five." The Suna puppeteer stated gruffly.

"One! A perfectly youthful number, I bet Gai-sensei would be proud!" Lee called out exuberantly, everybody ignoring the loud calling of his name from somewhere on the balcony. The Hokage quickly moved on before that could go anywhere.

"…eight." Gaara stated after a moment, snarling at the piece of paper in his hands; it likely meant a late fight.

"Two." Sasuke drawled indifferently, his face a blank mask as it had been since Sakura's 'death'.

"F-Four." Hinata squeaked nervously, looking along the line a bit further to where Neji suddenly gained a cruel and victorious smirk, having come to the same conclusion as Naruto concerning the numbers.

"Six." Naruto intoned softly, nobody questioning his curt, almost whispered answer similar to Sasuke. However he too was looking down the line like Neji, eyeing up Kankuro with a gaze hidden by his goggles.

"Three." Neji finished, still staring intently at Hinata who only seemed to shrink under his gaze; she seemed very glad for the buffer of Naruto between the two Hyuuga. The Hokage nodded as they finished, puffing on his pipe again and blowing it out as a wispy white cloud before continuing.

"And that leaves number seven for Miss Yamanaka, good. Then the match ups are decided for the last round of the chuunin exams; numbers one and two, three and four, five and six as well as seven and eight will fight one another to proceed further into the tournament." He raised a hand, pre-empting the questions he could already see percolating on a few of the participants' tongues. "While the final exam will be in the style of a tournament, for the benefit of the visiting judges and spectators, not only the winner of the tournament will be allowed to become chuunin. In fact, even they may not make the rank." Again he raised a hand, quietening the questions before they could be asked.

"During the tournament you will be assessed on the qualities we believe chuunin should possess; this means that even if you were to be defeated in the first round, but still manage to showcase these traits, you will advance in rank. However one who manages to win the tournament, yet show none of these qualities will be as likely to fail as any of you. As of this point, all of you have the potential to be made chuunin." The Hokage nodded once at the assembled genin. "Do your villages and your nations proud." And with those parting words he left the genin to mill about or return to their sensei.

Naruto took the opportunity to make for the door of the tower, he just wanted to get out of this forest as fast as possible; he felt like it would be a long month ahead of him. Already thoughts and ideas, inspired by what he had seen today alone, swirled through his mind. However there was also the emotional turmoil he felt just beneath the surface he badly needed to sort out. In any case, some rest in the comfortable, familiar environment of his apartment would do him good; he needed to have puppets on hand that just weren't… Kin. However as he passed through the door out into the forest he was stopped by Kakashi rushing up to him.

"Naruto good, you didn't vanish." He started, causing Naruto to grumble in his head; he had been _about _too. "I wanted to talk to you about the break; I arranged to have you trained by a Jounin instructor called Ebisu over the month." Naruto blinked at that; despite the cold, rather bland tone Kakashi was using, the Jounin was holding his emotions back well.

"That shows remarkable prescience considering we had no idea whether or not I would pass before today." Naruto drawled, matching Kakashi's bleak tone note for note. The grey-haired man shrugged like it was inconsequential.

"I had faith in my students…" He smiled, although it seemed rather forced "…and arranged training for all three of you, in case you needed it. I'll be taking Sasuke with me, we need him to unlock the Sharingan and right now I'm the only one in the village with one. Ebisu is a private instructor who has trained a number of chuunin up to levels acceptable for Jounin; I'm sure he can find something to work on with you." Naruto paused, considering it for a moment; he somewhat remembered a man named Ebisu from his limited interactions with the Hokage's grandson; he seemed not to like Naruto very much.

"Thank you, but it won't be necessary; I have a lot to work on by myself over the break if I am to be ready for opponents like Gaara, Neji and Sasuke. An instructor who does not understand my discipline will only be a hindrance." Naruto finally admitted quietly; Kakashi studied him for a moment before apparently finding something in Naruto's features the blonde personally didn't think was there. He nodded slowly with another strained smile

"Okay I understand; sometimes it is better to be… alone, to deal with issues like this." He nodded again, this time more to himself than anything. "Heh, I had to trade one of my rarer Icha Icha's to Ebisu just to get him to agree you know, so you owe me, alright?" Naruto stared at the Jounin curiously for a few moments before nodding, albeit with hesitation. Even if he was sure the man was joking Naruto did not like to owe anybody anything. He turned to leave only to get stopped again; this time Kakashi's features were indecipherable. "But if you need anything Naruto, even if it's just to talk, you'll come see me okay?" Again Naruto paused before giving a slow, uncertain nod, earning a smile from the silver-haired man that seemed a little more genuine.

With that he did leave, Kakashi waiting until the blonde was out of his sight and range of senses before he let out a sigh. He placed a hand on his forehead and slowly ran it through his hair, his posture slumped and despondent. Taking another minute to compose himself, which included wiping away the very beginnings of a tear trying to form in his visible eye, he turned back and headed for the tower; he needed to collect Sasuke.

It was going to be a long month, for everybody.


	12. Replacing the fabric

**Man, not owning _it _just sucks -'ttebane...**

* * *

**Plucking strings**

_"Put your hand, right up my shirt. Pull the strings, that make me work. Jostle apart, words fall out. Like a fish, with hook in mouth." - Dave Mustaine_

* * *

Naruto sat back in his seat comfortably, an amused smile playing over his lips that was in full display for once. Naruto often showed the courtesy of removing his hood when he was in the Hokage's presence; he imagined it helped dissuade the man of notions that Naruto was becoming too distant. However now it served the double purpose of giving him an excellent view as the Suna jounin sensei fumed at the old man. The amusing part was that the Hokage was simply sitting there, smoking his pipe as he allowed the veiled man to vent without interruption.

Naruto was sitting here because not ten minutes after settling down in his comfortable chair back at his apartment he had been notified by a helpful ANBU that he had been summoned to the Hokage's office. He hadn't been sure what to think of the upcoming meeting, but amusement hadn't been among the topmost thoughts in his mind; funny how things worked out like that.

"…and you somehow expect me to believe that a-a-a child! Of all things, was able to reverse-engineer Suna's proudest and most protected art from nothing more than some first-hand accounts in a ratty old book along with some trial and error? Absurd!" The man, Baki as Naruto had come to understand his name was, shouted in frustration. The blonde was certain the Jounin would be clutching at his hair in frustration if he had any to grab.

"If it helps, there _was_ a great deal of error." Naruto added in antagonistically, purely to see what kind of reaction he'd get from the man. It was all too amusing to him really as he knew at the end of the day, for all his scheming and manipulating recently, he was completely in the right for once. There was no trickery, no secret mentor or miracle guide to puppeteering he had found, he had simply worked at it until he unlocked the secrets he had needed to make his ambitions reality. Naturally Baki broke from his rant to whirl on Naruto angrily, his one visible eye smouldering with annoyance.

"Quiet you! I'll get to _you_ in a moment." Baki hissed, only to have his attention diverted by the Hokage coughing into his hand rather pointedly.

"If we could refrain from _threatening _one of _my_ shinobi Baki-san, I'm sure we could come to some sort of diplomatic solution here." The Hokage said evenly, not a trace of bias of swaying emotion in his tone; it was the perfect politician's voice, calming yet imposing.

"Diplomatic? Hokage-dono I don't think you understand the severity of the situation; this will be seen as a grave insult to the Sunagakure council. Kazekage-sama himself will likely become involved, especially if the head of the Puppeteering Corp catches wind of this. You cannot compromise your way out of this. We are potentially looking at an international incident here; one that could possibly jeapordize the treaties in place between our two villages. Unless you give us what we demand." Baki insisted earnestly; however the old Kage was having none of it, his face impassive as ever as he continued to blow out periodic streams of lazy white smoke.

"No Baki-san, I don't thing _you _understand." The Hokage retorted sternly, steepling his fingers on the desk in front of him as he leaned forward. It was rare to see the normally kindly Hokage look so intimidating but with the hat tilted over his head just right, his eyes were shadowed to the point of looking ominous. "My shinobi has done nothing wrong and that is all there is too it. It is neither my problem, nor Kazekage-dono's concern if an able enough shinobi succeeds in reverse-engineering one of Suna's Jutsu. It is a concern that must be addressed by every shinobi using their own techniques out in the field. Every combat method out there can be reverse-engineered with enough time and effort. Considering the age and success of the Puppeteer Corp in the past, it honestly surprises me this has not happened sooner." The man leaned back and gave a congenial smile, wiping away his previous image as if it had never occurred.

"They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Naruto piped up in a purposefully cheeky manner, unable to resist the temptation; even the Hokage seemed to smile lightly at the joke. Again the Suna jounin simply turned and glared at the blonde. He seemed to struggle a moment before apparently failing to find words scathing enough to convey his irritation.

"Quite." He forced through gritted teeth, his eye twitching at Naruto's cocky smirk. "In any case I'm sure that Kazekage-sama will be in correspondence with you; this is a grave issue that I'm sure will have far-reaching ramifications…" The man turned his lone eye on Naruto, narrowed threateningly. "…of that you can be sure. And when it happens, everyone in this wretched village will know it was all _your_ fault boy." With that he finally stormed out of the room, absently motioning for Kankuro, who had been sitting in the room quietly until then, to follow. The boy stood, before hesitating and looking back around at Naruto who was still maintaining his confident grin.

"So you really did it? You reverse-engineered puppeteering just by… trying to?" The young puppeteer asked slowly, wary of the Hokage's curious eye. Naruto's grin grew as he quickly nodded.

"Yeah, took me years too; although if it helps assuage your ego I believe our two styles are quite different." Naruto answered in a chipper tone causing Kankuro's face to screw up in confusion for a moment. The boy seemed to be internally warring with conflicting feelings of awe, disbelief and irritation. Finally though he seemed to settle on some kind of fall-back as if by some safety-mechanism, sneering as he left the room.

"Whatever, I suppose I'll just have to show you what _real _puppeteering is in our match." He muttered snidely as he left the room, ignoring when Naruto waved after him with that same bright smile.

"Looking forward to it!" He called after the boy, only to get no response, allowing him to turn back around with a small chuckle. His amusement seemed to only be shared in-part by the Hokage who was looking at him with a mixture of pride and exasperation. It was an odd combination and seemed to deepen the man's wrinkles substantially.

"I do wish you wouldn't antagonise the foreign shinobi like that Naruto; it's a dangerous game to be playing, especially internationally." The Sandaime chided lightly but without much real intent behind the words.

"Forgive me Hokage-sama, it is so rare I find myself in such an advantageous and unambiguously justified position; I had to take what I could." Naruto replied in an uncharacteristically flippant manner, earning an earnest, if not slightly strained chuckle from the elder man.

"Yes I do believe you're right; but 'rare' Naruto? You wouldn't be hiding things of equal importance would you?" The Hokage asked, only half-seriously as his eyes already began to drift to the paperwork on his desk. Naruto assumed that in the Hokage's eyes the matter was essentially closed. He would discuss it with the Kazkage, likely during the chuunin finals when they could do so in person. Some small, token reparation would be paid that wouldn't satisfy anything for Suna other than to make them appear to come out without a complete loss. However ultimately there was nothing else the Hidden sand could do; Naruto held the high ground.

"Of course not Hokage-sama." Naruto replied with a thrown-in chuckle, hiding the subtle twitch of his finger within his jacket sleeves; his face betrayed nothing. With that settled the Hokage was quick to dismiss the blonde, allowing him to gratefully escape his probing eye back out into the village.

However he didn't take more than a handful of steps before he had the unsettling feeling of being watched. It wasn't anything concrete, just a tingle on the back of his neck. Some might have called it paranoia, and Naruto wouldn't have denied it, but he was a shinobi; paranoia to them was simply a well-placed regard for their own well-being. Most would agree that consider their line of work a healthy sense of their surroundings was granted. To at least confirm it Naruto took a rather unusual path home, looking for all the world as though he was simply taking a more scenic route to mull things over in his mind.

Sure enough when he took a sharp turn into an alleyway that was perfectly lit so the descending sun was behind him, it allowed him to just about catch a glimpse of a shadow darting back too late. It seemed his suspicions were correct and he had himself a tail; interesting. He wondered who it was; perhaps a member of the Suna party? A spy from the Hokage, the old man having caught onto his ruse? Another competitor looking to glean secrets out of him before the finals? Naruto wasn't sure but for some reason instead of feeling frightened, or nervous, he felt oddly invigorated.

It was as though a long-dormant feeling of competition had been aroused within him, causing a slight smirk to break out over his features before being quickly schooled. He continued on down the alleyway without breaking stride, not deigning to give anything to his pursuer, no matter their agenda. If they wanted to follow him then they would be sorely disappointed with what they found; they could be assured of that.

* * *

A few days later, after giving his still unknown stalker quite the confusing run-around, and Naruto found himself in a position that seemed all too common over the last few days. He huffed, breathing out a long exhale through his nose as he stared at the lifeless form of Kin in front of him. He had considered a lot of options in what to do with his latest 'puppet' including simply destroying her. However to him that felt like a disservice; it felt wrong to violate her body after death only to throw her aside once her use ran out. There was also the small fact that Naruto didn't know if her use _had _finished.

While Naruto wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to hunt himself down a fresh body to puppetify, apart from the fact that the thought of repeating the process made him feel distinctly nauseous, he couldn't exclude their possible use like that. There was also the fact he had come to a few startling revelations since then, mostly due to the lack of overwhelming pressure on him that the interlude between the second exam and preliminaries had brought.

He hadn't given the fact that he controlled Kin through her Chakra circulatory system much thought at the time as it had simply been a means to control Sakura, the more pressing concern then. However now he realised just what possibilities that opened up to his craft. Puppets that could perform Jutsu? For the life of him he couldn't think of a reason it wouldn't work and sure enough around an hour later he had managed to successfully force Kin to multiply herself with the common clone technique. They were a little useless though, lacking the direction of a functioning mind; but that didn't mean other techniques couldn't be used.

However it wasn't as though he suddenly had access to every technique Kin had ever learned; no, if he wanted her to perform a Jutsu it would have to be one he knew. It wasn't useless, but it wasn't exactly the ground-breaking revelation he had been hoping for. Although the blonde did note one thing; upon trying his admittedly limited arsenal of Genjutsu, of which he only knew a few basic ones for general concealment, it felt as though Kin's body just accepted them more easily. As if her body was generally pre-disposed toward the style; it was interesting for sure.

The thought opened up a few interesting avenues in his mind but between repairing his more reliable and less… biological puppets and drawing out preliminary tactics for his opponents in his mind, they hadn't exactly been allowed to run their course. However in one of his rare moments of free time he found himself right there in that seat, his eyes lazily drifting over her too-shiny body. He wasn't afraid of being caught as his blinds were all drawn as usual. When asked why he simply cited the light-sensitive poisons he worked on and left it at that; nobody pried further.

He sighed wearily and leaned back in his chair, kicking his legs out so he swivelled around. He used to do this a lot when he was younger and bored; for some reason it just felt appropriate in getting his mind off things. Of course his brief departure from the realities around him was only short-lived. As he came to a stop he found his gaze now directed at the wall he had turned into a make-shift note-board. This was his side-project for the month; aside from improving himself and his puppets, as well as being entertaining as possible for his stalker, he felt this was prudent.

It contained a few headshots he had managed to 'acquire' for each of the remaining candidates for chuunin arrayed haphazardly in a manic hierarchy, from most dangerous to least. Even Ino was present; just because he didn't think much of her in the academy didn't mean he was excluding her danger. One good hit from her clan's famous technique and he was finished, no matter how extraordinary the circumstances would have to be to corral him into the necessary position. Beside each picture was a bare-bones break down of their skills, based on what he had seen, notes on possible counters as well as very preliminary ideas on puppet modifications he could make.

The problem seemed to be spacing; he had a lot of potential opponents with very varied abilities he would need to counter and only finite space on his puppets. Somewhere on the messy and complex vortex of notes he had tacked up, the word 'Fuinjutsu' was circled vigorously; he needed more space on and within his puppets and that seemed his best option. Slowly his eyes drifted up the make-shift diorama to the picture staring bleakly out at him from the top. Gaara, naturally, capped the hierarchy; the brutality and versatility he showed with his sand easily securing him the space of most dangerous opponent in these exams.

And of course in the 'counter ideas' section next to his profile Naruto had… absolutely nothing. But it had only been a few days and he had a few weeks to prepare so he wasn't worrying; yet. Just for the sake of it he stared at the picture for a while before sighing, running a hand through his hair slowly as he cracked his neck. Just looking at that kid's picture gave him the creeps; he needed his mind on something else, maybe even some fresh air. On that note Naruto pushed off the floor, swivelling on the chair once before bounding to his feet, grabbing his jacket and promptly trudging out the door. As a last thought he quickly grabbed some papers off his workbench.

A quick jog through the village, where Naruto noted the conspicuous absence of his usual pursuer, and he arrived at a familiar training ground quite close to the clan grounds. Quiet, feminine grunts echoed into the trees as he found a rather bedraggled and sweaty Hinata viciously stabbing into a training post that seemed to have been rigged to move in jerky motions in a circle around the girl. With her Byakugan blaring it only took her moments to notice his arrival. With a small squeak of surprise that seemed par for the course for the girl all the aggression she had been displaying vanished. It was a shame; that side of her was a marked improvement on her usual timid persona.

"Naruto-kun!" She started in surprise, her fingers coming up to poke nervously against on another; it was an annoying habit but at least she didn't stutter his name. He slid his hood back and pasted a warm smile on his face that had no right being there considering his pallid skin tone and the dark shadows under his eyes.

"Hey Hinata, did I catch you at a bad time?" He asked, mostly out of habit; he didn't thing he _could _catch Hinata at a bad time, at least to her. Her strange admiration towards him, while useful, tended to come off just a little creepy at times; it was almost obsessive.

"A-Ah no, no; I was only training…" Hinata trailed off, a frown flickering over both their features at the same time but for different reasons. Naruto was confused by why she would say 'only' training; it was basically the most important thing they could be doing as finalists this month. Naruto chalked it up to Hinata's dysfunctional family life that he had pieced together somewhat from snippets during their talks and left it at that.

"Ah well, I have this for you." He idly motioned with the small stack of papers in his hands; it was still a pain dealing with his contacts in Nami no Kuni, but he was getting better. Nowadays he only needed Hinata's personal advice on a few, more complicated matters. The girl took the offered sheaf gingerly, looking down at it confusedly.

"Hokage-sama still assigns you this task, even during the chuunin exams?" She asked in her soft, inoffensive tone. Naruto simply smiled and shrugged in a 'what can you do' manner.

"He said that the village still runs, even if the Hokage has other business; personally I think he's trying to make me give up on it, but we won't give him the satisfaction right?" He gave the girl a conspiratorial wink which immediately sent a rush of blood to her cheeks. She seemed to be getting better at not clamming up or turning bright red ever since he had started these meeting; he supposed it was habituation more than anything.

"N-No of course not." She squeaked out with some difficulty. "I-I'll go through these as soon as I can Naruto-kun." Naruto gave her a quick, easy smile.

"No need to go out of your way for me, your training is more important right?" The girl seemed like she wanted to say no but the slew of nice things Naruto had said was constricting her ability to think and she had to settle for a flustered shake of the head. "Well, you're up against Neji right? From what I saw of him you're gonna have a tough time of it; but I'm sure you'll manage something. Especially if you give yourself the element of surprise." The kind words rolled off his tongue easier than sweets, and they might as well have been from the way Hinata preened under the rare words of acknowledgment, from her not-so-secret idol too.

"A-Actually Naruto-kun…" Hinata started, only to clam up and trail off, apparently fighting something within her just to get the words out. "I was… I was…" All at once the sheaf of papers she was holding came up in front of her face, hiding the virulent red colour it became. "Iwashopingyouwouldhelpme!" She finally blurted out all at once in an unintelligible stream of words. Naruto blinked before re-setting the smile and cocking his head slightly.

"I'd be happy to help Hinata, you've already done so much for me and I told you, I owe you one." The blonde replied congenially, internally hoping that whatever she asked wouldn't take up too much of his time. The girl gave an excited squeal, not having expected Naruto to accept; when she realised he was still looking at her expectantly she nearly went into 'turtle' mode.

"A-Ah, then maybe you could help me train. I know I'm not the best, but I would at least like to show my cousin Neji that I'm not a failure like he believes." The additional names that she mentally added alongside Neji's went unspoken, even if they shimmered in her determination-filled eyes. However anxiety and hopelessness began to replace the warm feelings when she saw Naruto frown to himself. "A-Ah I understand if you-" She was cut off with another squeak as Naruto quickly interjected.

"No, it's not that I don't want to help it's just… well." He struggled with a nice way to put it because bottom-line, he _didn't _want to help. Training Hinata up to any sort of decent standard that she could evenly face off against Neji would take up way too much of his already precious and limited time. However the girl had proved an invaluable, if not unaware, ally in dealing with his budding network of informants. "Well, I'm not sure what I could do to help you if I'm honest. Unless I let you practise your Jyuuken on me, which I have to say doesn't sound all that appealing." He frowned again, trying to find a compromise here as he saw Hinata's expression become increasingly despondent.

"I'm not great at Taijutsu myself you know, certainly not on Neji's level and none of my puppets have Chakra networks so unless you have a spare, functioning Chakra network just…lying…around…" Naruto's eyes went wide as a realisation struck him like a ton of bricks. Suddenly the obvious answer to help both himself and Hinata at the same time came to him, a grin splitting his features. "Actually, I might have just the thing." Hinata's eyes lit back up with hope as Naruto nodded to himself, his eyes distant.

"R-really?" She asked hopefully, but it seemed to go completely unnoticed by the thoughtful teen; his mind was miles away.

"Yeah, yeah that could work." He nodded to himself more resolutely before turning back to Hinata as if he had just remembered she was there. "Meet me back in this training ground in three days okay?" And with that he took off, leaving Hinata to gawk after him; she had felt his determination and passion wash over her like a tidal wave just then as his steely blue eye met with her own. After sufficiently romanticising the moment over and over in her head for a few minutes Hinata allowed a goofy grin to slip over her lips before falling back into the grass, her cheeks a cherry red.

* * *

A few days later and Naruto kept his word, showing up at the training ground with a 'guest' in tow. Admittedly he had almost missed the meeting due to exhaustion and the only reason he had woken up when he did was because he fell off his chair, but the little details didn't matter. He was grinning rather proudly as Hinata arrived, eyeing up the familiar puppet standing next to him curiously.

"Well?" He asked conversationally as he glanced at the puppet. "Didn't I say I would come up with a solution?" He seemed rather pleased with himself all things considered; and why not? It was the perfect solution; Hinata gained some practise and hopefully with it, some confidence. He gained experience both in controlling his latest puppet, which would increase his skill in general and at the same time he would have some practise fighting against a Hyuuga. It would be invaluable knowledge when it came down to fighting Neji, or by some miracle, Hinata in the finals.

"T-The puppet?" She asked hesitantly, glancing at the figure with a mix of curiosity and anxiety; something about the glassy eyes and ever-present grin on the almost human face unsettled her.

"Yes the puppet; go on take a look." Naruto insisted, not one to be put off by Hinata's naturally cautious nature, especially as used to it as he was by now. However when the girl walked closer to glance over the puppets body he just sighed, feeling like he was talking to a child. "No, I mean take a _look._" He stressed, staring at the girl neutrally for a few moments until realisation apparently struck.

"O-Oh." The girl quickly activated her Byakugan aster a quick hand seal only to gasp in surprise, nearly deactivating her Doujutsu in shock. "B-But how… I mean it… but…" She glanced across as Naruto only to see him grin proudly.

"Impressive right? It took a lot of work but I think I nailed it." Nailed this acting more like it, not that Naruto let those thoughts show on his face. Hinata's eyes just widened, whether in awe or something else Naruto couldn't tell.

"So it's not real?" She asked after a moment's hesitation, for some reason unable to tear away her gaze from the intricate system of brightly glowing pathways running through the puppet's body. It was so carefully interwoven into what seemed like real muscle that Hinata couldn't quite believe it was artificial. Although the hollowed out inside of the puppet and the numerous seals, traps and weapons inside at least assuaged those concerns.

"Nope, all completely artificial." Naruto lied easily, keeping his easy smile on his face to ease Hinata's budding concerns. This was a crux moment for him; if she didn't believe him or decided to go to somebody about this he would have to take action and it likely would be unpleasant for either parties. After a moment though Hinata gave the blonde a timid smile, deactivating her Byakugan.

"It's incredible." She admitted, and Naruto was sure that it would be… had he actually built such a thing from scratch and not bastardized a human body to create it.

"Yeah, it was a kind of side project of mine to see if I could re-create a human body from the ground up using only artificial components." He chuckled hollowly but Hinata couldn't seem to tell the difference. "Harder than it looks I have to say." In more ways than one; however if anything Hinata's awe only increased.

"So when you said, in the preliminaries, that you had never used it before…" She trailed, getting a quick nod from the spiky blonde.

"Yeah, she was more of an experiment than an actual attempt at creating a workable puppet, but I didn't have anything else to use at the time. She was never supposed to be used as a puppet at all in fact." Well at least _that _part was true. "But it worked out in the end, and now I can use her to help you." Upon Hinata's quizzical gaze he grinned. "I might not be able to recreate the Jyuuken…" Although give him enough time observing Hinata and he'd see what happened "…but I managed to install tiny spikes on the end of her fingers laced in a mild paralytic that should be able to somewhat recreate the effects." Man did it take a while to work out a good delivery method that wouldn't screw up the dosages.

"S-So…" Hinata glanced at the puppet again, still just a little confused about what he wanted to do; however when she looked back Naruto had vanished, leaving behind only Kin and his voice drifting on the breeze.

"So… start dodging."

* * *

Hinata groaned piteously as she forced her head not to loll one side, if it did her unresponsive body would likely unbalance from where it was leant up against a tree trunk, forcing her to the ground… again. Her entire body felt numb, a faint ache travelling through her limbs where feeling actually remained, otherwise she was useless. For the last few hours she had born witness to Naruto dancing his puppet around her body, lashing out with strikes vaguely reminiscent of the Jyuuken. However she noticed as the session progressed and he got a better grasp of the way that _she _moved, the movements only grew in their eerie reminiscence of her clan's style.

"How you feeling?" Naruto asked cheerfully as he crouched down next to her, offering a cheeky grin as he poked her in the shoulder. For once in her life Hinata actually mustered the energy and spite to glare meekly at her blonde idol.

"It hurts." She groaned again, not trusting her voice beyond anything but a whisper.

"Yeah, copious amounts of paralytic will do that; if it helps I've been exactly where you are when I was testing the stuff." He offered half-heartedly, earning an equally weak glare; however the thought of Naruto in this pain for once didn't seem completely abhorrent in Hinata's mind, although that train of thought was squashed soon enough. She wanted to complain, she really did, but she felt like her arguments would have been completely invalidated by Naruto's mere presence. After all he was a paragon of determination and going above and beyond for his craft; complaining about one tough training session seemed pitiful in comparison.

"Well look at it this way; you got some invaluable training right?" Naruto suggested after a moment, rocking back and forth on his heels but apparently unable to remove his amused smirk. However Hinata couldn't disagree; compared to striking a stationary training post, Naruto was able to move his puppet in nigh unpredictable ways. While the blonde himself might not have been all that fast, the same could not be said for his puppets. Hinata had felt like she had the few rare occasions she had sparred with Neji, completely outclassed.

Somehow Kane, as Naruto had taken to calling the human-like puppet, was faster, more flexible and more agile than Hinata. It was able to strike from odd, often confusing directions then retreat back before its own guard could be penetrated. She had only managed glancing blows on the puppet at best and even after the single time she had closed of a Tenketsu Naruto had simply demonstrated the ability to purge his puppet's Chakra system with his own and re-open it. It really was a remarkable construct, one that only increased her awe and respect toward Naruto. Really, the idea of refining a Chakra-conductive substance into almost microscopic wires and threading them through a human-modelled shell was unthinkable.

To then tell her that he had gotten the positioning from old medical texts and gotten it so spot on was a wholly different matter. Hinata had told him that such a thing was almost revolutionary, asking him why he hadn't told others. He had simply said that Kane was incomplete and he wasn't ready yet; then he had gotten this odd mysterious look and told her that he had to have a few secrets for the style he was creating. That had been enough for Hinata but then he had gone on to elaborate they would be secrets he could only pass onto his family, looking right at Hinata at the time. It was enough to say the girl's head had swiftly short-circuited.

"Take off your shirt please." Naruto suddenly intoned, breaking into Hinata's reminiscence as the girl blinked owlishly.

"A-Ara?" Came her wholly ineloquent response as blood rapidly rushed to her face; the way Naruto was looking at her with those piercing blue eyes, like they could see everything; that was coming from someone with a Bykakugan!

"I need you to remove your top." Naruto evenly repeated, holding up a small tub of what looked to be some kind of paste. "I need to apply the antidote, it only works through absorption via the skin; the more surface area the better so rubbing it on your back would be optimum." Hinata's eye twitched as her brain struggled desperately to process that thought. Naruto was willing to… heal her after a training session. Naruto would be… rubbing her back. She would be topless… in front of Naruto.

It was too much for the poor girl and she promptly passed out, her cheeks flared a virulent red and a trickle of blood dripping from her nose. Naruto looked at her a few moments before raising an eyebrow. He had at least thought she would begin removing her shirt before passing out; seems he was overestimating her progress in that regard. Ah well. He replaced the small tub in one of his pockets' it wasn't really an antidote, the poison in Hinata's system would simply disperse after around an hour; he just wanted to see what would happen.

He shrugged before taking off from the training ground; he had worked up quite a sweat and was looking forward to going home. He had learned a great deal of invaluable information both about his own puppet and the Hyuuga Taijutsu. He was sure this knowledge would only increase as they continued to train; who knew, maybe Hinata would actually improve enough to offer a challenge to her cousin? Seemed doubtful but Naruto had seen stranger things occur… mostly in the Forest of Death though.

No, his thoughts quickly strayed from the Hyuuga heiress to the small revelation he had regarding Kin during his session. He had realised at some point that because he controlled Kin through a series of timed and coordinated pulses of Chakra through his threads, it was a very real possibility that one day he could do the same through a single thread. That opened the possibility of using ten puppets at once… or more. After all there were more Tenketsu close to the skin than in just the end of his fingertips; the thought had excited him so much that Hinata was able to close off one of Kin's tenketsu in his distraction.

However as he moved through the village his thoughts soured. As much as the idea was appealing, unless he could somehow extrapolate the information over to his regular puppets it wouldn't be of much use. On that thought his mind returned to its usual habit of planning strategies for use in the finals. He felt as though he were missing something important with his puppets, a trump card, a secret weapon others wouldn't be able to prepare for. Mostly he needed _something _to help him get through that damn Sand-wielder's defence.

He was rudely ripped from his thoughts when a young genin spraying down a fence of graffiti thought it would be funny to turn the hose on him. He stood there a moment, dripping wet with an evil look growing in his eye until a positively vicious smirk crossed his lips. With a twitch of his finger and a well-placed Chakra thread the hose was ripped from the genin's grasp, to be replaced by his own. A quick application of his thumb to the end of the hose and suddenly its already strong spray was turned into a vicious jet of water that nearly bowled the kid over.

Naruto chuckled evilly as he walked away, feeling like vengeance was his; as childish as the moment had been it was certainly satisfying. Hadn't the kid known that creating a smaller opening created a greater water pressure? If he was going to prank him, at least do it properly; it was almost insulting. It was simple physics after all, in fact he had heard of highly pressurized water being able to cut through…

Naruto's mind trailed off as a spark of inspiration was lit behind his eyes; he took off in a dead-sprint towards his apartment; he had a lot to do that night.

* * *

**A/N: Would anybody happen to know a good artist? I'd like to commission an image of this story's Naruto but I've never done so before so I'm not sure how it works. **


	13. A new stitch

**I don't own it... I'm coming to deal with it now that there can't be more than a few chapters left, eight max seeing as it's supposed to end in October.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"I could never be on stage on my own. But puppets can say things that humans can't." - Nina Conti_

* * *

The rain didn't seem to bother anybody in the stadium as it poured on the ground relentlessly. The general atmosphere was an air of excitement and anticipation as everybody eagerly awaited the start of the show they had all come to see. Everybody had come for this, from shinobi to merchants, farmers to nobles, genin to Kage; every aspect of society was accounted for in some manner, bustling about and chatting in the busy stands. Whether they were here to witness shinobi fight for entertainment, or to gain a better idea of who they could be hiring in the future it didn't matter. They all came for a good show and an equally decent atmosphere; something like the weather wouldn't ruin that.

Naruto felt as though he could disagree, withdrawn even more into his shapeless grey jacket than normal. The way he used it required it to be open at the front always and he was getting an unpleasant draft along his practically bare chest. It was something to look into in the future but for now he put thoughts of the chilly air aside to glance down into the spacious arena set forth for the prospective chuunin. It was a large, circular shaped space with a smattering of trees off to one side and a small stream on the other but it was mostly just a flat and rather dusty plane. The two combatants stepping up to meet one another didn't seem to notice though, too engrossed in searching the other for weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Naruto had been almost surprised to find he actually arrived at the stadium _after _Kakashi and Sasuke. Apparently Sakura's death had rattled the silver-haired shinobi more than Naruto thought and he was taking things a lot more seriously. The blonde wondered what that said about the Uchiha's training over the last month. Already re-evaluations were going through his mind but he'd allow the spectacle to unravel before making any hasty judgements. There was no reason why he couldn't enjoy the show between two superb taijutsu users; it might even give him ideas.

Hiruzen drew in a deep, calming drag from his pipe, blowing out the gentle white smoke in a vaguely ringed shape. He felt it was the duty of all old people that could smoke to learn how to create shapes with the exhale. It helped that he cheated a little, using Chakra to mould the smoke before it passed his lips. To demonstrate he blew out a far more complex spiral, the sight of it drawing his eyes down to a certain hooded blonde waiting patiently in the candidate's box below.

"You know that habit's gonna kill you one day Sensei." A familiar voice spoke up without even bothering to hide his amused tone.

"Ah Jiraiya, I would be the luckiest shinobi in the world if I were to fall to such a mundane cause." The old Kage replied easily, turning his head slightly to look at his old Student leaning against the railing. He knew that the white-haired author's mind weren't really with his eyes though, there was obviously something else crowding his head. "Anyway, it's Tsunade's job to inform me of all the little things that will inevitably shorten my life expectancy." A quiet chuckle passed between both men at the inside joke; as shinobi above forty they were already long passed the average life expectancy for their profession.

"Yeah well, I ain't putting on a blonde wig and playing 'nurse' for you Sensei, this isn't Icha Icha you know." Jiraiya shot back, turning with his usual boisterous grin; it seemed dampened by something though.

"An interesting comparison from you Jiraiya." Hiruzen noted jovially, placing his pipe back in his mouth out of habit for a moment. "So how have you been? I hear you've been back in the village for a while now." Jiraiya nodded absently, already knowing what the underlying question there was. "Well?" The old Kage urged, prompting Jiraiya to let out a grunt of a sigh.

"Nothing." The white-haired pervert finally piped up in a distinctly irritated tone. "Couldn't catch the Gaki anywhere. Apparently he spends most of his time holed up in that apartment of his but even during the times I've practically camped outside his door he never comes out. Either he's a bigger hermit than I am or he has some other way of leaving that place." Jiraiya admitted in irritation; he was too old for a kid only a few months out of the academy getting one-up over him, even unintentionally.

"You didn't think to simply knock on his door?" Hiruzen asked innocently, getting a vaguely disgruntled noise for his trouble.

"I did; a few times… I even broke in at one point. The kid was asleep." Jiraiya caught the lightly scolding look from his former sensei and only returned it. "It was one o'clock." Hiruzen continued to stare, making Jiraiya's eye twitch slightly. "In the afternoon! Kid has weirder sleeping habits than most ANBU I've met from what I can tell." Hiruzen continued staring at the white-haired sage, making him give a dismissive wave. "I didn't snoop around… much. Puppets sensei? Really?" At that Hiruzen finally let up, his pipe returning to his mouth as he ruminated for a moment.

"I had nothing to do with it I assure you; in fact is seems to be partly Kakashi's fault. I believe he was trying to inspire Naruto during a particularly… trying time." Jiraiya's mild wince did not go unnoticed. "However Naruto seemed to latch onto the idea of puppeteering quite avidly. I can't imagine why…" The old man continued sarcastically. However Jiraiya _could_ imagine; a young, lonely kid, offered the chance at building his own potential friends.

"Aren't phases like that supposed to pass pretty quick at that age?" Jiraiya offered unhelpfully, only getting a shrug from the older man has he motioned to the boy casually.

"Apparently not." And with that he returned to his pipe, a serene expression seemingly engraved onto his features. "So you decided to stick around then?" Hiruzen asked slowly; it wasn't exactly common for Jiraiya to stay in the village for long periods.

"Yeah, well, I figured if I couldn't train the kid, might as well come and watch him you know?" Hiruzen simply nodded, an odd smile crossing his features.

"Shame, I thought you might have some lingering ideas of protecting me; I was almost touched." The elder man replied in perfect deadpan, only cracking a small smirk when Jiraiya turned to him with his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, because _you_ of all people need to be protected Sensei." Jiraiya scoffed in a dismissive manner, turning back to the arena as the Sunagakure delegation finally arrived in the Kage box.

"I'm not as young as I used to be Jiraiya." Hiruzen whispered to himself before sticking a practised smile on his face and turning to the new guests. "Ah, Kazekage-dono; it's a pleasure to see you."

* * *

Sasuke leaned his weight from side to side as he waited down on the arena floor, arms crossed impatiently. Across from him, his opponent was giving a disarming grin, practically bouncing on the spot as he too waited for the fight to begin. He looked unassuming, if not garishly dressed, however he had been warned by Kakashi not to underestimate him at any cost. Apparently anybody able to keep up with Maito Gai's 'insane' training regimes was an adversary to watch out for. Sasuke decided to heed the advice and just go out punching, fight him as if he needed to be eliminated as soon as possible. He smirked as the proctor began to walk over, the rain beginning to let up.

Lee wouldn't know what hit him.

The arm came down and both boys dashed forward to the instant, gratifying cheers of the audience. There was only a brief pause as both found their legs connecting with one another, a test of strength taking place that Sasuke was surprised to find he wasn't winning. Then, he swung his leg back, used the momentum to spin around and managed to launch a devastating kick at Lee's unprotected temple. At least he thought it was unprotected; instead the boy's arm, like a block of steel, was there to provide a guard.

Their eyes met again, Sasuke's narrowing while Lee's shined with determination and excitement. Then, to most of the audience, they seemingly vanished, just twin blurs of varying colours clashing back and forth with only their grunts of exertion and the occasional thumps of limbs colliding providing commentary. A few of the older chuunin and Jounin looked on, impressed that genin could reach these kinds of speeds at their level. However they were in for a much greater surprise when Sasuke and Lee separated again, smirk matching grin as they stared one another down.

"It is obvious to me that at this level we are too evenly matched Sasuke-kun! I am thankful that Gai-sensei allowed me this honour before the match!" Lee exclaimed exuberantly. Nobody had noticed that at some point during the bout Lee had somehow procured, or perhaps removed, a set of training weights and was holding them out to either side of his body. When he dropped them, even people in the back row of the stadium felt the ground vibrate slightly as improbable craters sundered the ground where they dropped.

"I agree." Sasuke intoned with a smirk, not even seeming bothered by the apparently enormous weight Lee had just shed as his eyes swirled into a sea of red. Twin black tomoe danced around his pupil like little black koi swimming in matching pools of blood.

"Then let us pit our flames of youth against one another until only one of us can stand!" Lee finally shouted before his entire body simply vanished, at least to the eyes of the civilians, genin and a few chuunin. However Sasuke, with his Sharingan active, could easily make out the boy through his haze of speed, even if his edges were just a bit blurry. Sparring with Kakashi had gotten his eyes used to tracking fast-moving fighters, as well as taking heavy blows like the ones Lee suddenly bombarded him with.

However while speed and strength were on the spandex-clad boy's side, reactions and planning were on Sasuke's. It was obvious to anybody able to follow the mini-Gai that Lee was not used to his intense and sudden speed. His previously crisp and precice movements becoming sloppier and less coordinated. Obviously unused to his bodies newfound capabilities, a form of tunnel-vision overcame the Goken user. On the other hand Sasuke was able to keep up with him, countering and diverting attacks instead of taking them head on with the help of his Sharingan's mildly predictive abilities.

While Lee rushed blindly about the stadium, able to gain improbable angles for his attacks with his impressive speed, Sasuke was able to think. He was mostly staying in the same place, using minimalist movements to subtly shift the battle toward the tree line outside of lee's notice. It was an obvious manipulation to any observer, but to Lee with his one-track mind at the moment didn't notice a thing. When the trap was finally sprung and tough steel ninja wire seemed to burst from the ground where Sasuke had laid them, he was unprepared.

Suddenly Lee was bound to the trunk of a sturdy and thick tree, his arms tightly held at his side so that he had no leverage to use his immense strength. In the meantime Sasuke had transferred the wires he was holding to his mouth, catching them on his teeth as he gave a victorious smirk.

"Kaphon: Wyuka no Butsu!" He called out in a muffled tone thanks to the steel wire in his mouth, his hands flashing through hand seals until they stopped on tiger. Fire seemed to well up in the dark-haired boy's mouth until it became a bright white, before rushing down the steel wires like they were soaked in oil. Lee only had the opportunity to widen his already large eyes before he and the tree he was tied to were turned into a make-shift bonfire. Gasps came from the crowd at the apparently brutal end to the fight; however they, as well as whatever Lee shouted, were lost in the roar of the orange flames.

Sasuke ignored them, holding the technique constantly while counting up to five in his head. That was the 'safety threshold' of the technique, any longer and Lee _would _likely be fatally injured. As it was he would have a few nasty burns and might be out of commission for maybe a week or two. Then again Kakashi had told him that little could keep Gai down, including injuries, and if Lee had inherited any of that the boy would likely be training the very next day. However before he could even reach the third count in his head, the flames around Lee were suddenly blown outwards, causing Sasuke to wince and let go of the wires in his mouth.

"…fth gate: Tomon!" Lee's voice called out above the roar of the flames, his skin having taken on a bright red hue from head to toe and the pupils of his eyes vanishing entirely, leaving them blank and white. This time the gasps from the crowds came from the Jounin and everybody able to recognise just what Lee had done. As it was Sasuke did _not_ understand what Lee had done, only that by seemingly exertion alone he had blown back his jutsu's flames, leaving his body only mildly singed. What came next would not be lost from the young Uchiha's memory for years to come.

Pain, unending and unbelievable pain erupted all over his body. Lee had been there one moment and then… he wasn't. But then Sasuke wasn't either because in a fraction of a second Lee had closed the gap between them and launched the Uchiha into the air with a devastating kick to his chin that, if Sasuke had been completely unprepared for, might have snapped his neck. It didn't end there; oh how Sasuke wished it could have ended there. No, Lee vanished from the ground again, only phasing back into existent the moment he was above Sasuke again, the boy's Sharingan capturing in excruciating detail as the boy cocked his leg up above him.

There was nothing Sasuke could do, Lee's leg came down and once again his world exploded into bright lights and searing pain. This continued for what seemed like minutes but was in truth only around seven seconds. Sasuke was bounced around in the air by absurdly powerful kicks that created genuine shock waves in the air from their sheer force. Meanwhile Lee seemed intent on creating some sick facsimile of a pinball game with the bruised and battered Uchiha's body. He dashed about, launching of the ground, the walls and even sometimes off Sasuke himself to keep the Sharingan-user in the air until he felt the boy had enough.

On some unspoken signal Lee skidded to a stop on the arena floor and almost exactly a second later, Sasuke's body hit the ground with a disturbing crunch. All at once the aura of power around Lee's body vanished, his skin regaining its normal tone as his pupils returned. However whatever he had done apparently took a great toll on his body as he seemed shaky on his feet; his legs looking as though they could give out at any moment. It was unfortunate too as at that moment Sauske's hand shot up before slamming back down into the ground, his fingers clawing at the dust as he shakily began to push himself up.

Lee looked on in horror as slowly, excruciatingly so, Sasuke started to stand. The spandex-clad boy took a step forward to stop him only to find his legs giving out underneath him, bringing him down to a knee. Both genin looked up at the same moment, their eyes meeting to the point where Lee could spot Sasuke's Sharingan fade into his usual black orbs. However that was all he got before Sasuke's eyes slid shut and his body finally gave in, slumping to the ground limply.

In the end, Lee's determination and will allowed him to hold on a few moments longer as not even five seconds later his eyes glazed over and he too collapsed forward.

* * *

Naruto waited patiently for the deafening roar that had sprung up at the closing of the match to die down. He had to admit that what he had just seen was quite possibly the best display of genin-level taijutsu, if it could even be called that, he might ever see. He was impressed at his teammate for holding out that long against a clearly stronger and faster opponent. He was equally impressed at Lee's sheer ability to overcome the Sharingan with brute force as well as the boy's determination and the rigorous conditioning his body had obviously undergone.

However a few moments later and a strange hush overcame the crowds, the next two opponents being waited on to take the field. Neji was already down there, having began his trek down to the arena floor the moment his Byakugan picked up Lee using the gates. However Hinata was only just beginning to go, having watched the first match, enraptured by the determination Lee showed. As she passed by Naruto, still leaning against the railing like some unmoving statue, she didn't expect him to do anything; however she was pleasantly surprised to feel a hand lightly pat her on the back.

"Good luck." Came the blonde's quiet, but steady encouragement, however small. And that was all Hinata needed; her previous nerves and jitteriness faded away, a small smile spreading out on her lips as she descended the stairs.

* * *

"Quite the impressive pair of genin you have there Hokage-dono." The Kazekage started up in his usual gravelly tone; his bored, lidded eyes didn't really convey the hollow statement though even as they followed the young Uchiha being carried out of the arena via stretcher. "Quite the shame about the Uchiha boy though; I was rather hoping to have my Gaara challenged at some point. Now I fear the exams will become quite boring with nobody to oppose him." To his side the Hokage; simply raised a single eyebrow a fraction of an inch, carelessly puffing on his pipe.

"You show a great deal of confidence in your son Kazekage-dono; however I believe you may be surprised at just the kind of resistance Konoha can put up against any show of force." Hiruzen shot back, equally casual and steady with his tone. The Kazekage briefly glanced across at the old man, his eyes narrowing slightly before returning to where the two Hyuuga had taken the field.

"We shall see, won't we?" He offered neutrally, glancing down to the genin's box where Gaara stood motionlessly, his arms crossed as he glared down at the arena floor. "We shall see."

* * *

"I'm surprised you were actually able to make it down the stairs Hinata-_sama_." Neji called out scathingly, making sure to put sarcastic emphasis on her suffix. However only she and the proctor could hear him as he kept his voice down to prevent the crowd listening in. All the while he kept his features neutral and schooled; it would do no good to have outsiders see there was a schism within the Hyuuga clan.

"I am perfectly able to face you Neji-niisan, don't look down on me." Hinata called back, an uncharacteristic hint of steel to her tone that most had never heard before. She too maintained a dignified air about her, unwilling to allow her family to see any cracks in her surface. "I have to prove to you, and to my family that I am able to stand on both feet; you'll see." She called out, more defiantly this time as both Hyuuga took their stances, almost identical in their appearance.

"I _do _see Hinata-_sama_. I see a weak little girl trying to act strong despite only having hollow ideals to spout." The brown-haired boy called back, his lips twitching up into a scowl as he saw the slight shock in his cousin's eyes. "Don't think I don't know about you so called _plans _to reform the Hyuuga… to rejoin the houses." He carefully regained control over his features before levelling a withering stare at the girl. "It will never happen; fate has already determined our paths in this world; it is merely our job to walk them. Whether it is with a scowl or with a smile is not up for us to decide." The young Hyuuga concluded as he flexed his hands once; however far from the nervous girl he had been expecting to see he only saw a glint of determination take root within Hinata.

"I see niisan. I may not understand your pain, but I see it. However over the last month I was taught something very important; that sometimes words will only go so far." Without even a hand sign Hinata's Byakugan suddenly activated, giving her resolute stare more impact. "I will have to _show _you my resolve!" Before Neji could get another word in edgewise the proctor finally decided to cut into their conversation, his hand coming down like a blade between them to start the match.

A collective breath was held by the crowd as the two Hyuuga didn't move a muscle. Both their Doujutsu were activated, staring, searching, waiting. They read their opponents Chakra flow, watched every slight twitch of their muscles, regulated their breathing. However it was Neji who moved first, deciding that with his superior speed there was little Hinata could do anyway. He dashed forward, arms lashing out at speeds almost matching Lee's kicks from earlier. The two-fingered strike was aimed at Hinata's collarbone and inches away from connecting it was slapped away.

It was then, as far as the crowd was concerned, that the match began in earnest. They watched enraptured as the two Bykaugan-users engaged in a beautiful dance-like pattern of back-and-forth strikes. One would lash out only to be slapped away by the other before using the motion as a lever for a counter attack only to in turn be parried. Faint bursts of aquamarine light escaped their fingers with every missed strike as their pace only became more furious and their eyes narrowed further and further. Neither seemed to be getting any kind of advantage over the other as while Neji seemed faster, Hinata's body flowed around his attacks.

"What is this bastardization?" Neji finally ground out as the two separated from their heated engagement for a moment. "Those are not the correct forms for the Jyuuken; what have you done?" He wasn't out of breath by any means however his chest was rising and falling faster than at the beginning of the match.

"Did you think all I learned over this month were simple words of advice niisan?" Hinata panted out, looking noticeably more strained than her cousin; while she had certainly improved over the training break, Neji was still older, faster and had greater stamina than her. "I learned that the Jyuuken is painfully limited when it comes to defending against our own style of attacks." As she spoke her stance shifted subtly, her forehand lowering as the arm held behind her bent at the elbow ever so slightly. "Against other taijutsu it is powerful, against itself it is flawed. It is rigid, defined and stiff; as you have already seen a more flowing motion is ideal to defending ourselves against other Hyuuga."

Neji simply sneered at the girl. "It is a weakling's attempt at overcoming obstacles too large for anyone to move; just because you have slightly changed your moves does not mean you will beat me. You won't even land a single strike on my body." He called out defiantly, shifting into the 'proper' stance as his eyes narrowed.

"The Hyuuga need to move forward or we will stagnate; the way we fight is no different niisan." Hinata shot back as both Hyuuga slowly began to circle one another, getting closer like two astral bodies caught in the inevitable clutches of their own gravity.

"It matters little Hinata-_sama _because you are within my field of divination." His stance shifted abruptly into something new, something that had more than a few main house members of the Hyuuga to gasp.

"That also means you are within mine niisan." Hinata whispered softly, her own stance suddenly changing to imitate Neji's with those same subtle differences.

"**Two palms!**" Their twin cry rang out through the stadium as they launched forward.

"**Four palms!**" They once again called out in perfect unison, lightning-fast strikes being slapped and parried so fast it was hard to tell whose hand was whose.

"**Eight palms!**" Hinata's arms flowed around her cousins as they began to skirt around one another, their hands still lashing out indiscriminately for the Tenketsu of their opponents.

"**S-Sixteen palms-s!**" Their voices lost their synchronicity as Hinata finally fell behind her cousin's superior speed and strength, looking visibly strained as the flowed around one another like two partners locked in an intricate dance. By now the scuff marks their feet had made in the dust had traced a wide circle around the centre of the arena.

"**Th-Thirty two palms-ms!" **Hinata now looked to be struggling greatly against the onslaught that was her cousin's technique, her movements slowing down while his only seemed to get faster. She was placed completely on the defensive now, doing everything in her power just to keep her cousin from decimating her. This is what she had been training for; Naruto's strikes were just as swift and incapacitating as these; they came in from much more unpredictable angles, she could do this!

"**Six-Sixty four palms-**aaaggh**!**" Hinata couldn't do it, halfway through her last volley of strikes a blow struck her in the chest out of nowhere, launching her back and finally breaking their confrontation. She landed hard on the dusty floor, groaning lightly as she clutched an arm she had essentially sacrificed to take the brunt of the damage. Angry red marks dotted her pale skin where she knew her tenketsu had been closed; however she had no chance to repair the damage as Neji was already moving forward.

"Do you see now Hinata-_sama_? No matter how we struggle, or complain, or fight against it fate will always guide us in our path." Neji sneered down derisively, pausing a few feet away to glare at the girl. However even on the ground, clutching her arm like it was broken, which it might as well have been, Hinata didn't balk. She simply stared right back defiantly.

"I too used to believe we were all slaves to our fate niisan, that I was doomed to be weak, to have my dream of uniting the clan taken away by the very sister I love so much becoming clan head instead of me. I thought it was inevitable that I too would be branded with the seal, never to be able to dream again." She grunted as she struggled to take a knee before wobbling back to her unsteady feet. "However I can't believe that anymore, not after watching _him _struggle through his entire life just to spit in fate's face." Her voiced wasn't raised any more than usual, but there was a steely edge to it most wouldn't have recognised as belonging to the usually timid girl.

"Oh really? And how to you intend to go about defying fate in such a way? With this pitiful trap you managed to set up." He motioned with his hands around him, savouring the look of shock in Hinata's eyes. "What, you thought I didn't notice you laying them?" He toed the ground, uncovering a small mechanism partially hidden in the dust. "Pitiful, to resort to such cheap tricks." He sneered at the girl, surprising the audience by taking a few steps back. "I _want _you to activate it; then maybe you'll understand how futile all this is; how little of a chance you stood to begin with." He smirked victoriously, only to frown as he noticed something flash through Hinata's eyes.

"There's no such things as cheap tricks for shinobi niisan; I learned _that _this month as well." She tugged back with her middle finger, revealing an almost invisibly thin wire wrapped around it that suddenly glinted in the sunlight. The sound of a mechanism releasing could be heard all throughout the nearly silent arena as the specators held their breath. Then, all at once, the devices on the ground opened up, revealing small seal arrays on each one. With a puff of smoke what looked like a small tidal wave of ninja wire rushed out of the seals, spiralling around Neji in an attempt to tie him up.

Both Hyuuga matched each other's smirks as Hinata took a staggered step forward and Neji crouched low, his body beginning to spin. Not for the first time more than a few members of the Hyuuga let out simultaneous gasps as Neji used a technique he should never have known. However Hinata was not among them; she knew this would happen because Naruto had already told her what Neji had spent the month perfecting. She might not have approved of the underhandedness of spying, but she understood Naruto was just like that, refusing to leave any advantage unknown.

Sure enough as Neji span, releasing Chakra from all his tenketsu in a precisely controlled manner, a large semi-translucent dome of spinning energy was erected around his body. All the wires were immediately batted away and Neji was left completely unhindered. However that was not the purpose of the trap, no, that was simply to get Neji to perform the Kaiten. In reality it was a simple ruse in order to expose what was quite possibly the only weakness Neji had that she could exploit.

While it was true Neji was a genius, learning a complicated technique from sight alone that took main branch members years to learn from genuine teaching, he lacked the knowledge that position brought. The Kaiten was such a powerful and versatile technique that only the top Hyuuga learned it, perhaps well into their chuunin or jounin careers. That was why the weakness did not affect them as much, they had the necessary experience to compensate; Neji did not. In that single moment where the user began to slow down, the barrier around them lowering, they were vulnerable.

The glow faded, the sphere of energy lowered and Hinata's hand lashed out, aiming right for a spot on Neji's chest. His eyes widened, able to see it all happening as he attempted to bring his hand around to stop it. However the momentum of his spin had taken him too far, he wouldn't reach her in time and she may very well have gotten the opening she was looking for.

But she didn't.

For whatever reason, most likely chance, Neji was able to slap away her hand, his eyes narrowed and focused more than he recalled them being for a long time. It was over in moments after that, Hinata had banked on that one opening and when she didn't get it she was simply unprepared for the counter attack. Five quick strikes later and her body slumped bonelessly to the ground, a strange half-smile tugging at her lips as she looked up at the sky. Neji stood there a moment, panting and blinking as he looked down at the girl, his mind reeling.

"You hesitated." He finally got out, even as the crowds around them burst into applause and cheers. Neji didn't hear, the two Hyuuga might as well have been in their own little world for all the difference it made. "Why?" He struggled to ask, his eyes narrowed scathingly as he took a step forward. However Hinata didn't move, simply staring up at the sky with that same odd smile.

"Because I am the Hyuuga heiress; as much as I dislike quoting Tou-sama, I have to start acting like it eventually. This is how I choose to do so." Her smile gained a serene quality as a tear escaped her pale eye, a bit of the pain from Neji's attack showing through as she tilted her head in his direction. "You are family; family can compete but it shouldn't genuinely fight…" Her head rolled back so she could look up at the sky "…it's too important." She sighed as the proctor began to walk over to call the match only for a scowl to suddenly rip across Neji's face.

"Don't look down on me like that!" Suddenly he was moving, his body acting on some kind of malicious auto-pilot as his hand shot out, practically glowing with Charka. It struck true before the proctor could do anything to stop it, lashing out right at Hinata's heart.

The crowd was silence by that entrancing arc of crimson that flew through the air from Hinata's mouth. Her eyes went wide as pain lanced through her body, the sound of blood rushing through her ears nearly deafening. However to the young heiress it was the oddest thing; that steady, melancholic beat she was hearing only seemed to slow, like the final parting notes of a gentle melody.


	14. And a new needle

**Nobody lets me own 'nuttin.**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." - Chief Seattle_

* * *

Two thousand three hundred and forty seven; that was the number of people sitting in the stands of the Konoha arena that day. It was also the number of people that watched, transfixed, as an arc of blood flew through the air from the mouth of the Hyuuga clan heir. It was the number of people who watched, unable to look away, as Hyuuga Neji, cousin to said clan heir, attempted to brutally murder Hyuuga Hinata.

Attempted.

Almost immediately there were three jounin down on the arena floor, including the proctor, all of them holding Neji back before he could follow up with a truly lethal below. Medics were called, Hinata was carried away and a hushed sigh of relief floated through the collected people in the stands. They had witnessed a good showing and the unexpected outcome had rattled everyone. Team eight were baying for Neji's blood, various shinobi were trying to work out the motivation and some civilians were trying not to turn green at the sight of somebody nearly dying. The Hyuuga clan watched on stoically, their perfect masks betraying nothing even as they silently seethed.

And Naruto? He watched on curiously as a boy tried to kill his cousin, a blonde eyebrow quirking up slightly under the hood. Family had always been a foreign concept to the young puppeteer and as an outsider to such a paradigm he had a rather unique perspective. Most of the time it was apathetic, others he could only feel mild amusement; this time though? There was the cold detachment he often displayed yes, but something a little deeper perhaps.

Irritation… yes, he felt quite annoyed all of a sudden, his eyes narrowing to reflect that as his grip on the railing of the genin box tightened ever so slightly. He couldn't place why though, Hinata was just a tool right? She was a chess piece, useful for when she was needed and slowly that need was dwindling down as Naruto gained a better grip on his network and the way it was ran. Soon he would be independent and he would have a steady stream of reliable information that he could handle himself; Hinata was a non-player now.

So why was he glaring at Neji as the teen was escorted from the arena?

* * *

_"Naruto-kun?" Hinata started up quietly during one of their breaks between training. The aforementioned blonde looked up with half-lidded eyes, a small flask of water in his hand as he glanced around at the blue-haired girl._

_"Yeah?" He mumbled, voice muffled slightly by the flask in his mouth. Kane rested a few feet away, leaning up against a tree with its leg pulled up against its chest. A casual observer might have mistaken it for a girl just taking a nap out in a peaceful clearing with some friends. Hinata remained ambivalent to the puppet, still rather creeped out by its appearance and its likeness to a human, but at the same time touched that this was the puppet Naruto was using to help her. Kane was helping her to become stronger because Naruto willed it to be so._

_"Why are you helping me?" She asked suddenly, her voice still quiet as she stared down at the grass; her injured, aching body didn't allow her to do much else. Naruto simply blinked; his hood was down revealing his quizzical blue eyes, mildly obscured by messy hair, damp from sweat; they had been out training for the better part of the day._

_"What do you mean?" He smiled disarmingly; he could never lower his emotional mask around Hinata as he could never be sure if she had her Doujutsu activated. That alone was a lot more tiring than any of the training they did; Naruto could control a puppet for hours on end without feeling too much strain._

_"W-Well…" Hinata's fingers came up in front of her in a way Naruto recognised as her withdrawing in on herself, tapping together nervously._

_"Hinata, you did me a real favour by helping me with this project, even though you didn't have to; I'm returning the favour. That's what friends do right?" The blonde wasn't even sure where the words came from, they just flowed out; it was harmless right? Hinata on the other hand looked a little taken aback, her head snapping up despite her weariness to see Naruto smiling brightly at her. If she hadn't been so tired, she might have noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes._

_"Friends?" She tried timidly, as if tasting the word, only to get an encouraging nod from the young puppeteer as he hauled himself to his feet._

_"Sure, we're friends right?" He questioned as a hand suddenly appeared in front of the girl. She looked at it a moment like some kind of alien life-form before smiling timidly and accepting it. As she was pulled up she couldn't help but think about how smooth Naruto's hand was, and oddly cold too. She nearly shrieked in fright as instead of caring blue eyes she only found herself looking into Kane's glassy black orbs. She never even noticed Naruto substitute himself._

_"Never let your guard down Hinata!" Naruto called out from some unidentifiable place, his laughter echoing in time with Hinata's yelps as more paralysing toxin was injected into her system._

* * *

The blonde frowned as the random memory floated to the surface of his consciousness; it was all just acting wasn't it? Simple re-application of social trends he had witnessed and re-enacted to get a desired result. Words like 'friendship' were little more than labels used to describe a mutually beneficial relationship. Could he have, at some point in his pretense, allowed actual feelings to come into play? It was very un-shinobi like of him if that was true; however as he puzzled this all out in his head he barely noticed that the arena below him had been cleared out.

"Oi, faker!" He was snapped from his introspection by a familiar voice, another source of irritation inhabiting his thoughts this last month. "We're up Gaki, time to let me show you how real puppeteering works." Kankuro called out with a smirk as he hopped the railing down into the arena. Naruto narrowed his eyes but didn't rise to the taunt; apparently he had been a bit too emotionally invested lately so he intended to squash that now. He instead decided to use the stairs, walking at a sedate pace that was sure to make his opponent wait a while.

As he passed by the redheaded boy that had been less than patiently waiting for his own match to begin, Naruto couldn't help the shiver that ran the length of his spine. Ino had not turned up yet, likely still reeling from what had happened in the preliminaries; and if she was smart she wouldn't. However this meant that if he won this match, Gaara would be his next opponent. Genuine fear, like icy fingers gripping his heart, worked its way into his system. However as he continued on, with every step it was slowly replaced by an anxious kind of excitement.

Nothing said he couldn't have a bit of fun with all this, the thrill only made it more exhilarating.

* * *

"Well, that was certainly an _interesting_ development, wouldn't you say Hokage-dono?" The Kazekage drawled in his usual bored manner, his eyes seeming increasingly listless as time went on. Hiruzen bit back a snide retort, suppressing his frown to school himself emotionally, donning an impeccably neutral mask worthy of the best actors. He contemplated a puff on his pipe but it wouldn't be professional to outright avoid the issue like that.

"Children and their squabbles, I'm afraid they are only exacerbated by shinobi training." The aged Hokage directed back, a playful edge to his tone masking the disappointment in his eyes. He could almost feel the frustration and deep-seated hatred in Neji; that whole sordid affair with Kumo and Hyuuga likely scarred him irrevocably. It was a regrettable but necessary course of action at the time; that didn't ease the ache in the old man's heart though. It was one of many.

"Quite unusual for the usually rather proper and distinct Hyuuga to allow such arguments into the open, ne?" The younger Kage expressed dully, his tone adequate expressing his lack of interest in the topic and that he was only humouring the conversation.

"Indeed; although that you find concern in it is an admirable trait Kazekage-dono. You village is lucky to have such a caring and compassionate leader." Hiruzen shot back, a fabricated smile on his face that made the Kazekage's eyes narrow behind the simple veil he wore.

"Quite." The younger man concluded, turning his gaze toward the stadium where Kankuro stood waiting, impatiently tapping his foot. "So my son is finally up then? I feel this should prove to be an interesting match, don't you agree Hokage-dono?" Hiruzen simply smiled mysteriously with his pipe, that had appeared from nowhere, comfortably resting in his mouth.

"Ah yes, we are privileged to see two similar arts, one with a lauded history and another just beginning to develop and grow, wielded by two similarly skilled opponents. I'd almost go as far as to say this is a historic moment." Hiruzen admittedly light-heartedly, going along with the Kazekage's shift in conversation. However the man himself seemed less than amused.

"You speak as if the two fighters are equal; you don't really believe that a young upstart would be able to capture even a fraction of the skill and poise a real puppeteer possesses? Our puppeteer corp. have the experience and battle-testing of many generations; your own genin has only what he managed to cobble together from tattered second-hand accounts." The Kazekage argued placidly, emotion failing to reach his otherwise charged words. Again though Hiruzen simply gave a mysterious smile; the man certainly knew how to play his role.

"Maybe you are correct; sometimes experience really does trump natural talent, in fact I think that would often be the case." Hiruzen agreed in a pleasant tone, not missing how the Kazekage's eyes narrowed slightly. "However Naruto is a particularly exceptional shinobi, as I am sure you are soon to find out." He concluded, managing to get the last word in as the aforementioned blonde chose that moment to walk out onto the field, much to the mixed reaction of the crowd. The 'Kazekage' sat back in his seat, eyes narrowed as he accepted defeat this time, thoughts brewing silently in his mind.

* * *

Naruto found a small hint of satisfaction in the annoyed expression on Kankuro's face. It was petty and childish, but he had been quite stressed over the last month with training and putting up with Hinata. There was also the fact he spent a lot of time gathering information on his competitors which included, but was not limited to, breaking into the Hyuuga compound; not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. So for once he just allowed himself to enjoy that little moment as he stepped up to the centre of the arena.

"So, are you ready to get a lesson on actual puppeteering?" Kankuro sneered, hands twitching ever so slightly despite his attempts to hide it by crossing his arms. Naruto simply blinked, haiving been looking absently into the crowd, before tuning back to Kankuro like he had only just noticed the boy's presence.

"Huh, did you say something?" He intoned boredly; somewhere in the crowd Kakashi felt a hint of pride swell in his chest. "Sorry, I thought you were talking to the seven year old Naruto that would have been itching to learn." The blonde smiled easily, placing his goggles on his eyes and stretching his neck a little. "This is the thirteen year old Naruto that already learned it all and is going to use that knowledge to kick your ass… by proxy, of course." The younger puppeteer added with a smirk, making Kankuro seethe quietly. For a puppeteer he really didn't have a great grip on his emotions; maybe they taught that later in Suna. Then again that Gaara kid had a pretty good hang of it.

"You'll be talking out the other side of your mouth when this is over kid." Kankuro growled, his hand moving toward the scroll hanging from his belt. Naruto had noted the conspicuous absence of the boy's large bundle that he had carried around before and had assumed he had learned the wonderful art of Fuinjutsu. Or at least he had wizened up and had started using it to some degree. Naruto didn't feel the need to continue any kind of banter and simply glanced at the proctor. The man rolled his eyes but nodded nevertheless, his hand coming up as a tense silence fell over the crowd.

As soon as the hand fell there was a flurry of action; both puppeteers reacted at the same time, throwing out scrolls into the air as their positions were enveloped by concealing white smoke. By the time it cleared Kankuro was safely hidden behind a small rock formation on the other side of the arena; he knew the trees would be too obvious a position. He suspected that would be where Naruto would hide anyway; Leaf Ninja were predictable like that. However any expectations came to a grinding halt as he realised that Naruto, in fact, had not moved an inch.

"Oh, are we playing hide and seek now?" The blonde called out playfully, scratching his nose in faux-innocence as his cold, but hidden blue eyes scanned the scenery. "I thought you wanted a puppeteer fight? What? Do you lack faith in your ability as a puppeteer? Not want to settle this through real skill?" The Konoha-nin continued to taunt, grinning slightly as Ramia coiled around him protectively, her upper body swaying hypnotically.

Kankuro watched the odd puppet for a moment; it was very different to the one the blonde had used before. It subverted all the expectations he had made about the so-called 'copy-cat puppeteer'. He certainly hadn't been expecting something that looked so finely crafted. However he forced himself not to rise to the taunts; they were an obvious and childish way to get him to reveal his position. Naruto would have to try a lot harder to beat him in the mind games; this was where Suna puppeteers really excelled.

Instead his fingers began their dance as Karasu, previously lying dormant in the trees to further subvert his position, sprang to life. The chattering, fast-moving puppet leapt into action, speeding across the arena like it had invisible wings. Naruto's eyes immediately narrowed at the sight of the disturbing three-eyed construct, his own fingers beginning to move in a flurry. It was true that he may have been rather exposed standing out here in the center of the arena. However with Ramia coiled around him protectively, her bulk between him and any danger, he couldn't have felt any safer.

He proved this when Karasu moved in to attack, two of its four arms suddenly opening up and firing wide-spread volleys of senbon. Naruto scoffed at the rudimentary attack, Ramia easily interjecting herself between the weapons and the puppeteer. The snake-like puppet quickly batted away any of the kunai that would have come close to hurting Naruto, the blonde giving them a second glance to make sure they didn't have any ulterior tricks. Once he was sure the attack was as basic as it looked he smirked, his fingers twitching for the counterattack.

Ramia swung around, sections in her torso opening up as they returned the attack with interest, a small stream of kunai erupting from her hollow body. Naruto had re-stocked her during the break, replacing her more up-to-date senbon launchers with her old ones that used kunai. He figured that since he'd be fighting puppets and not humans he'd need something a little more heavy-hitting. He was working on making the two systems a little more interchangeable.

Karasu proved quite manoeuverable though, instantly backing off once it's strafing run was finished. However the puppeteer in the shadows was caught off guard as kunai, seemingly at random within the volleys, began to explode without any rhyme or reason. Some weren't even close to hitting Karasu when they blew up. The reason became clear though when a spinning, white-hot piece of shrapnel embedded in the rock he was hiding behind. The explosive kunai were scattering the rest of the weapons while they were mid-flight, making them cover a greater area. Despite the situation Kankuro couldn't fight down a small grin.

_'Alright, so he's got some tricks; he isn't the only one.'_ The Suna-nin's hands moved in a flurry as Karasu swooped in the air, diving back down at Naruto's position. Instead of weaponry though, the three-eyed puppet's mouth opened wide, a tube sliding out and shooting out a small wrapped ball with a quite 'thwip'. Ramia tried to bat the offending projectile away with her tail but upon contact it simply exploded into a noxious purple mist, spreading out and quickly engulfing the blonde. Kankuro grinned, already feeling self-assured of his victory; there was a large enough dose of toxins in that cloud to drop a jounin.

"Heh, trying to fight a puppeteer with poisons… You my friend, ironically, are thinking too much like a puppeteer." Naruto called, out his voice slightly muffled; it was revealed why when the dense cloud cleared and Naruto could be seen with a damp piece of cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth. Kankuro narrowed his eyes at the failure only to sigh in his head; at least now he wouldn't have to see the blonde's annoying smirk. That he could just stand out there in the open, mocking what puppeteers stood for; it really got his blood boiling.

Naruto grinned as Karasu came in for its next attack run; this time he could really feel the frustration of its creator in its movements. Foregoing range, Karasu instead began sprouting improbably large blades from a few joints, turning into a whirring buzzsaw of death as it zipped through the air. What followed was a difficult to see display of what could only be called puppet Taijutsu. Karasu was obviously faster and more agile than the ground-based Ramia, however where she lacked in speed, she made up for in durability. Her tail alone was lined with a lightweight alloy to increase her already thick-skin; Naruto didn't want a repeat of the forest of death.

Sparks flew through the air as Ramia curled around Naruto's body, deflecting attacks with both her tail and the prehensile cables in her fingers. A confusing mish-mash of metal and wood flew in dangerous flurries around the blonde's form. All the while he stood calmly at the centre of it all, fingers moving deftly beneath his long sleeves, away from Kankuro's prying eyes. They seemed to be in a perfect stalemate though; Karasu had the agility and flight to attack from improbable angles faster than Ramia should have been able to react. However she was only defending a small area around Naruto and therefore required les space to manoeuvre it.

It was only after around three minutes of this back and forth, with no clear winner in sight, that Naruto finally showed a little irritation. He came out here to prove that his puppeteering was at least on par with that of Suna's, however victory out of attrition simply sounded hollow at this point. His fingers twitched in a slightly different way and this time it was Ramia'a head that shot forward at Karasu. Before Kankuro could even blink, two of his puppet's arms were suddenly sealed up in some kind of thick, clear substance that apparently dried very quickly.

"Hmm, I was saving that for your brother; now the surprise is gone." Naruto lamented tonelessly, his face not really betraying the annoyance his words would suggest as Kankuro had his puppet retreat back into the woods. The Suna puppeteer made his puppet do a long loop around the outside of the arena where Naruto wouldn't be able to see it before bringing it back to his position. The blonde smirked when he realised what the kabuki-dressed boy was attempting, using the opportunity to check Ramia over briefly only to find her damage was superficial at best.

"I wouldn't bother trying to remove that; it's an adhesive derived from the same resin I use to strengthen my puppet's skin." It was damn near impossible to remove under good circumstances, as Naruto had painfully found out when testing it. It only stayed liquid under very specific conditions and once it came into contact with air it swiftly congealed from a slimy liquid into a tough, semi-translucent glue. It excelled at clogging up joints and generally being a hindrance to whatever it touched, installing the mechanism into Rami had been a pain, but oh so worth it.

Originally he had intended to use it to lock up Gaara's sand into more manageable clumps so the boy wouldn't have as great a versatility with it. However he felt secure in the fact the boy seemed somewhat insane; maybe he wouldn't plan ahead for this? It didn't concern the blonde too much, and it couldn't, because at that moment Kankuro decided to press his attack again, obviously hoping to catch the blonde off-guard.

The Suna-nin thought it had worked too, relishing in the blonde's look of shock as Karasu, now missing the two clogged up limbs entirely, bee-lined straight for his blind-side. Ramia's body was on Naruto's other side and Kankuro had already seen how fast the snake-like puppet reacted; it wouldn't be able to do a thing. However just as the large spear-like weapon that had emerged from Karasu's mouth was about to strike the blonde in the leg, Naruto smirked. Karasu struck home, but there was no wet squelch, no look of pain or even irritation on the other puppeteer's face, just that smug look of satisfaction.

In a puff of smoke Kankuro realised his mistake, instead of Naruto standing there with a spike through his leg, Ramia instead had taken the blow. He should have realised Naruto was standing so close to his puppet for a reason, it allowed the blonde to make a substitution so fast it would be almost impossible to detect. Even a Hyuuga likely would have realised too late; how often had Naruto had to practice it to get it to such a point? In any case Karasu was now trapped; Ramia's hands swiftly gripped the weapon as her feminine face leaned down into Karasu's three-eyed one.

Kankuro dislodged the weapon from his puppet's main body just as the first wad of fast-drying adhesive was spat from the naga's mouth. It was too late though, it struck Karasu right in the torso and immediately locked up one of its remaining arms. Before it could even get a few feet back another shot was launched and he lost control over one of Karasu's legs, leaving him just the head to work with. However it appeared Naruto wasn't going to let the advantage drop, Ramia unfurling from his body for the first time in the match to chase after the now slowed Suna puppet.

_'Finally!'_ Came Kankuro's thought as a smirk was at last allowed to dance on his lips; this was what he had been waiting for and Naruto couldn't have looked less prepared. The ground behind the blonde suddenly shifted aside, revealing a second puppet, similar to Kankuro's first save for its more rotund body and snout-like face. Naruto only had time to widen his eyes in shock before he was encapsulated within this new puppet's round, barrel-shaped torso. The locks slid shut with a conclusive thud and a dead silence settled over the stadium.

However Kankuro wasn't done, his fingers twinted and Karasu, or at least the parts of his puppet he could still control, disassembled. The newly freed leg, arm and head flew across the stadium, spikes flailing from their points of connection to the original torso, now lying uselessly on the arena floor. It soon became obvious what Kankuro was doing when the spikes slid perfectly into their slot-like receptacles in his other puppet's body like some twisted puppeteering iron-maiden. This time the silence was deafening as the puppet simply stood there, Naruto apparently defeated in a highly gruesome manner.

"Hah, you were no match for both Karasu and Kuroari!" Kankuro called out, breathing a little heavier from the exertion controlling two puppets put on his body. "This is what it means to be a _real_ puppeteer you faker, controlling not just one dinky puppet, but having an army at your fingertips!" He smirked broadly, waiting for the match to be called; that really should have been his first clue. His second clue was the fact that Ramia had never fallen to the ground in a slump as she should have. The third and final clue was the distinct lack of blood that should have been draining from Kuroari's body.

"Huh, I think I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

Kankuro froze at that voice, the voice that should have been halfway across the arena and crying out in pain, not casually striking up conversation behind him. He turned and sure enough Naruto was sitting up on one of the rock formation, a long skewer hanging from his mouth as he casually leaned back on one hand, one leg crossed over the other.

"I hope you don't mind the Dango, I sleep kind of irregularly and I missed breakfast this morning." The blonde continued before spitting out the wooden skewer and smiling. Kankuro's brain only froze for a moment before he brought his hands around, already twitching into a maelstrom in an attempt to get his puppets back over to where they could be useful. However he felt the presence behind him too late, turning only to look straight into the beautiful face of a second of Naruto's puppets. Arakune stared right back, her dark, glassy eyes, all six of them, following Kankuro as he started back in fright. But it was too late, she quickly grabbed his arms and lifted him up.

"W-What is this thing?" Kankuro started in fear as Arakune's perpetually smiling mouth suddenly opened up, unhinging in a biologically impossible manner. Acid dripped lightly from the corner of her mouth, hissing where it met the rocks beneath them and leaving small, bubbling indentations in the ground.

"Oh Arakune? Don't worry about her, she has a very… gentle touch." Kankuro's fingers had gone slack from a mixture of fear and the fact Naruto's spider-like puppet was gripping his arms rather tightly, almost cutting off the blood supply to his hands. The Suna-nin struggled fruitlessly, his legs having already been lifted off the ground as his face was brought closer to Arakune's. He had never been more terrified than was right now which he never thought could happen considering who his brother was.

"You know…" Naruto continued, looking thoughtfully down at his hands as they danced gracefully, causing Ramia to slither over to their position, taking up sentinel next to Naruto as they talked in case Kankuro had some last minute tricks "…you shouldn't be so quick to judge just who is able to control multiple puppets and who can't." The blonde smirked as the pinky on his right hand twitched, causing Kuroari to do likewise across the field. Suddenly its barrel-like body was cracked open, a pale wooden hand emerging from its depths as a roughly human-sized mannequin pulled itself out.

"Last I checked, three was more than two." Naruto quipped happily as his smirk grew. "Now go to sleep." Kankuro was suddenly pulled forward, his head and shoulder's disappearing within Arakune's mouth in one sickening 'gulp'. The rest of his body quickly followed much to the mutual disgust of many of the spectators in the crowds. Kakashi for one wasn't sure whether to be happy his student won or to be mildly disturbed in the way he had done it. Like-wise the proctor wasn't sure what to do; hell he wasn't even sure if Naruto had just killed his opponent or not.

"Well?" Naruto asked, looking over at the brown haired man whose senbon had nearly fallen from his mouth. It seemed to shock him back into gear as he nodded coughing into his hand sheepishly.

"Ah right, winner of the third match, Uzumaki Naruto." The man quickly announced; it took a few seconds for the applause to really catch hold of the audience though. However once Naruto had Arakune 'regurgitate' Kankuro back up, once again causing many a face to turn green at the sight, they realised the Suna-nin was not dead and the clapping picked up; especially from the foreign visitors.

Kankuro simply lay there, dazed from being both eaten and immersed in a gaseous paralytic toxin for a minute or two. It hadn't been long enough to have any really adverse effect though and even wore off after a few terrifying seconds of being unable to move. However even when he felt feeling return to his finger tips he didn't bother to move, simply staring up at the sky with wide eyes as Naruto looked on curiously.

"How?" He finally managed, only to cringe when he realised he had the taste of the poison in his mouth; he had been breathing it for a few minutes after all and it wasn't pleasant.

"You were out-thought, it happens all the time, deal with it." Naruto shot back disinterestedly; he had done his part and won, there was nothing left for him to think on in his opinion. Sunagakure was going to be very annoyed, yes. Did it concern him? Not as much as it likely should have.

"You controlled three puppets at the same time." Kankuro murmured incredulously, and he had every right to be shocked; Naruto was a year younger than him at least and yet he was already more advanced than the Suna-nin at his own art, at least by their standards. In Sunagakure your skill as a puppeteer was measured by the number of puppets you could control as well as the individual puppets' complexity. From what he had seen, the snake and the spider puppets had been more than just a 'little' complex; hell, Arakune had just eaten him!

"If it helps…" Naruto sighed with a frown, looking over to where Dami was limping pathetically towards him "…This one really doesn't count." The poor puppet had taken a real beating inside Kankuro's trap; Naruto was really glad it wasn't him. Well, it had never been him considering the blonde had been hiding in the forest section of the stadium the entire time, but that was beside the point. "I mean, I basically grew up with this puppet; he was my first successful combat construct." At this point Naruto could easily control Dami with two or three fingers, and when he had to move as little as he had been in the centre of the arena, one was more than enough.

"You really built all these puppets yourself huh?" Kankuro mumbled as he tried to haul himself to his feet only to stumble on weakened, jelly-like limbs and flop back down embarrassingly. At that Naruto looked over in surprise, he was just about to turn and leave the stadium but paused.

"You mean to say you didn't?" He asked incredulously, realising they were probably holding up the next match but not finding it in him to care; Ino wasn't even here anyway. Kankuro just shook his head as he attempted to get up again only to be surprised as he found a hand wrapping around his wrist and hauling him to his feet. The crowd seemed confused about why Naruto was helping Kankuro up, and so was the boy in question.

"Well, I assembled them, but they are both standard puppets built by Sasori; they're the type of puppets everyone in the puppet corp start out with at first." Kankuro confessed, his eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to regain his balance on his own. Naruto's eyebrows nearly shot into his hairline though at the snippet of information; the puppets Kankuro had been using were created by Sasori himself? However a moment later and he began to laugh, just genuinely laugh right there and then in the middle of the arena.

"Well then… "he started, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye despite wearing goggles "…there's your problem." Kankuro looked at the blonde in confusion as he continued. "How do you expect to win with a puppet you don't even know? I understand everything about my puppets because I designed them, I built them and I was the one that breathed life into them. Every mistake I made is carved into my skin and ever success is carved into theirs, puppeteering isn't about controlling them; it's about symbiosis." He smirked, patting Ramia on the back as he shook his head.

"Damn, and I thought Suna were supposed to be the authority on puppets and here I am schooling you on such a fundamental thing." Well fundamental to Naruto anyway who was thrown into a black and white 'succeed or fail' scenario from a young age. He either had to understand these things and incorporate them into his works, or he simply wouldn't be where he was standing today. His puppets were battle-tested and they constantly evolved with ever new scenario. However as much as Naruto changed them to suit the situation, he too had to change because of this.

He turned to leave on that note, shaking his head incredulously on his way out. He had walked into that match, hoping he'd be able to measure his skill against that of a real puppeteer from Suna. However he walked out realising that he had been going about it wrong; just because Suna were first, did not mean they were right. He did things his way and he would continue to do so. His own acknowledgement had been good enough for him as a kid, it was good enough now.

"Thank you." He paused, mid-step, as Kankuro called out to him suddenly, but he didn't turn. "It's been a while since I've had a fight with a puppeteer my age." The Suna-nin finished, his voice sounding a little conflicted with the statement. However Naruto walked out feeling a lot more conflicted than Kankuro sounded. The boy had just accepted him as a real puppeteer; what did that mean?

* * *

"Well, that was certainly an interesting development wouldn't you say, Kazekage-dono?" Hiruzen piped up, mirth in his voice as he parroted the man's words from earlier right back to him. The Kazekage simply seethed in his chair, fingers gripping a little too tightly on the arm-rests.

"Quite." He ground out through clenched teeth, watching with beady black eyes as Gaara made his way out onto the arena floor, his opponent nowhere in sight.

"So are we ready to give up the pretence now Orochimaru?" The Sandaime offered up as though he were talking about nothing more interesting than the weather. The 'Kazekage' started in his seat for only a moment before glaring in the old man's direction, the guards around the pair suddenly tensing, Jiraiya included.

"Well, how long have you known old man?" Came a very different voice from the veiled Kage, it was smoother with an underlying hiss to his tones.

"Oh please my wayward student, you are a hundred years too early to pull this charade over my eyes." Hiruzen replied, his voice almost a sigh as Orochimaru glanced to a seemingly random spot atop the arena.

"Well then, I suppose you are right sensei, if the act is for enough, then I suppose we can begin."


	15. The eye of the needle

**Goddamit Sasuke... well, we all knew this had to come eventually, right?**

* * *

**Plucking Strings**

_"All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours." - Aldous Huxley_

* * *

Genma was not ashamed to admit he was nervous right now; at least in his head he wasn't. Taking the position of chuunin exam proctor over for Hayate should have been a simple thing, just stand in the arena, say some names and announce the winners; that was it. But no, he had to be standing next to the clearly mentally unstable kid with the absolute control over sand, which apparently rivalled jounin assassins from Suna. Gaara just stood there quietly, his face a cold expressionless mask and yet somehow he was projecting an aura of malice that was making _him _anxious.

It didn't help that the boy's opponent, Inoichi's daughter if he remembered right, hadn't turned up for the exams at all. He wasn't exactly surprised considering what he heard had happened in the preliminary rounds, but still. The redhead next to him only seemed to become more and more agitated, the sand around his feet swirling in both a hypnotic, and deeply unsettling manner. His hand were tightening up until his knuckles whitened; and on top of all that the kid was apparently a jinchuuriki.

But it wasn't as though Konoha could do anything, no; the kid also had to be the son of the Yondaime Kazekage. If he tried to subdue the kid without him visibly flying off the handle already, then _Konoha _would be the bad guys in the eyes of the world. Safety obviously came first, that was the Sandaime's viewpoint, but damn if publicity didn't come a close second. If Konoha was seen so blatantly betraying its 'ally' in a public event like this, the backlash would be immense. Genma couldn't imagine how stupid you would have to be to do something to turn public opinion of the village against you like that.

The senbon-chewing jounin's eye twitched; now the kid was muttering to himself, as if he couldn't get any creepier already. He sighed dejectedly, running a hand through his hair as he swapped the side of his mouth he was chewing the senbon with. He wished he could just call the match already but he had to give the girl at least some time to show up, however unlikely it was. Yeah, he was considerate like that; had to give the Konoha genin as much chance as possible right? He blinked suddenly, feeling his eyelids begin to grow heavy; were those feathers falling from the sky?

It was the shock of the senbon pricking the roof of his mouth that snapped him out of the Genjutsu, jerking him upright as he saw panic and chaos begin to break out into the stands. His eyes widened in shock, realising that the invasion that had been theorised and told about to all the jounin was _actually _happening. After Hayate had died he had assumed something was up, but to see it first-hand was something else. His eyes only opened wider when he realised just who he was standing next to; the unstable Jinchuuriki, in the middle of an invasion, in the centre of a large, open space.

When he pivoted on a foot though he only met a rather curious sight; Gaara was still standing there but he almost seemed to be… melting? At some point after the explosions and the genjutsu, the Suna jinchuuriki had been drenched from head to toe. Wet sand was sloughing off of his body like a second skin, turning a muddy brown colour. The redhead himself seemed just as shocked, looking down at himself in confusion, a muttered word on his lips as his features twisted into a snarl. However before anything could be uttered an enormous, rather sturdy and familiar-looking tail suddenly slammed right into the small boy's stomach.

There was an almost pregnant pause, for Genma at least, before the diminuative sand-wielder was send careening back across the stadium, the sluggish wall of sand that had risen to protect him too slow dropping uselessly back to the ground in a sopping heap of muck. Then suddenly Naruto was there, a smirk spreading his whiskered cheeks as he pulled his goggles up onto his eyes. The blonde cracked his neck once before looking up at the still shocked proctor whose senbon had nearly fallen from his mouth.

"I hope you don't mind if I take _this _one, he was going to be my next opponent anyway and well…" The blonde grinned, but not a particularly pleasant grin "…I don't want all that planning to go to waste, right?" Genma blinked before shaking himself back into reality, his mind running a mile a minute. To be honest, against a raging jinchuuriki Naruto was probably their best bet, even if the blonde didn't know exactly why. Plus he brought up a good point; Naruto had literally been preparing a month for this fight

"Yeah... sure." Genma finally managed, rather lamely too; apparently that was all Naruto needed though as the blonde smirked again and stalked off towards his target, the hulking snake-like monstrosity he controlled slithering right after him. Genma only watched him go for a few moments before turning back to the more pressing issue; namely the invasion. He was sure that if Naruto failed, or Gaara got too out of hand, he would know about it.

They were jinchuuriki for a reason.

* * *

Naruto felt his heart flutter as his pace picked up into a jog, suddenly jumping up and landing on the back of Ramia as she slithered forward, riding her undulating tail like a surfboard. Gaara only just seemed to be coming to his senses, having been recently slammed into a rather sturdy wall with only a wet supply of sand with the consistency of mud to lessen the impact. The redhead looked up, spotting his attacker and practically growling as he picked himself up. The wet, useless sand sloughed to the ground around him, quickly replaced by fresher, dry earth from the arena floor. Naruto noted that particular phenomenon as 'problematic', but not unaccounted for.

Gaara, having been expecting another bodily attack like the one that had put him in this position, raised a wall of sand as Ramia shot forward faster than Naruto could run. However it never came, the snake-like puppet stopped on a dime, the momentum flicking her tail forward so that the very tip, where a neat circular hole rested at the end of a metallic spike-like protrusion, almost brushed the wall of sand. Gaara was not expecting that, nor was he expecting the sudden blast of water that erupted from said hole.

He was unprepared then as the water carved a great swathe through his defence, breaching the first wall and forcing the boy to bring up a second which thankfully stopped the blast, for him at least. However Naruto simply smirked, having seen all he needed to in the fact that Ramia's water cannon could in fact breach Gaara's 'inpenetrable' defence. His pinky twitched ever so slightly and the metallic spike at the end of his puppet's tail rotated half an inch. Instantly the blast of water, which was still trying to carve a swathe through Gaara's sand, tightened to the width of a single ryo coin.

The redheads eyes widened in surprise, stretching out the black rings around his eyes as a jet of water burst through his defense. It was weakened, but not stopped; but all that meant was that instead of being neatly carved in two by the thin, pressurized water jet, he was simply smashed in the chest and sent crashing back into the wall of the arena, held there by the sheer pressure of the water. However while he was experiencing crippling pain one moment, his hands struggling to move to bring in more sand to protect himself even as it moved with its own mind, it suddenly stopped the next.

It didn't mean Naruto had stopped attacking though, as instead of a jet of crystal-clear water bursting through his sand, it was a single metal pellet, smaller than the size of an average fist. It soared through the holes the water cannon had carved, landing at Gaara's feet and rolling to an anticlimactic stop just shy of his sandaled toes. The redhead blinked once, eyes glancing curiously down to gaze at the strange kanji-like symbols engraved across the pellets surface for only a split second; but that split second was all it took.

Because then it exploded.

* * *

Sasuke growled in frustration as he watched the medic-nin bustle about frantically, confined to his bed like he had been since he woke up some time after his match. Everybody refused to tell him what was going on and why everybody was in such a rush. The hanging lights in the room shook faintly from distant tremors and more wounded kept pouring in by the second. His neck ached and burned slightly for reasons beyond comprehension and he felt more irritated than ever. Hell, he didn't even know what day it was or how long he had ben unconscious, although he wouldn't say long considering he wasn't in the Konoha hospital, but the small field station in the stadium.

"Oi." Sasuke grabbed the closest medic-nin that rushed past, hands glowing an inviting green, by the sleeve, stopping them in their tracks. "What the hell is going on?" It turned out to be a young grey-haired man wearing large spectacles, his hair tied back into a short pony-tail. His eyes seemed to gleam as he turned, spotting Sasuke looking at him expectantly, before clearing his throat and smiling congenially. Sasuke thought he might look somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place where.

"It's an invasion Sasuke-kun, from Suna and Oto if I understand correctly, but I may be mistaken; I'm just a humble medic-nin after all." The boy answered, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he spoke, causing them to gleam briefly in the shaky light.

"An invasion?" Sasuke muttered to himself in shock, not noticing the inquisitive and wholly unfriendly look the young medic-nin sported for a moment as he glanced up to Sasuke's neck.

"You aren't hurt are you? Experiencing any unusual pains or aches?" The older ten suddenly pressed, leaning uncomfortably close to Sasuke and shocking the boy out of his disbelief.

"W-What? No! I'm fine." Sasuke growled, leaning back and away from the grey-haired boy who seemed to notice his discomfort and backed off slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I've been rude. My name is Yakushi Kabuto, genin. I should take a look at you right now; you don't seem too hurt so as long as I can verify you're well enough we can free up this bed and get you out into the fight where you'll be useful; okay?" Kabuto smiled in a friendly manner, lowering Sasuke's unease; he wanted to get outside if there was a fight going on.

"Sure, do whatever I guess." The Uchiha muttered, leaning back in the bed as Kabuto leant forward once again, his hand glowing green. If Sasuke had been paying a little more attention he might have noticed it was not the warm, inviting colour it had been before, but a sickly, mottled green that looked more like dying grass. He certainly noticed when a kunai suddnenly imposed itself between the two, forcing Kabuto's hand back lest the teen lose it.

"What are you doing to my student?" Kakashi's voice cut in, causing Sasuke to look around in surprise. The man's headband was pulled up, revealing his furiously spinning Sharingan that was currently glaring at Kabuto with almost enough intensity to gouge holes though him.

"W-What do you mean Hatake-san? I-I was just healing Sasuke-kun here, i-it's my job, r-right?" Kabuto backed away suddenly, his hands raised defensively in front of him; Kakashi remained unconvinced, his hand beginning to hum with a faint blue glow as he stepped forward.

"Don't lie to me, I recognise that technique well enough, or, this eye of mine does." The Sharingan user spat venomously, the blue glow beginning to crackle and chirp like somebody had loosed birds in the room. All of a sudden though Kabuto's demeanour changed like somebody had flicked a switch. Gone was the nervous, frightened teen, backing away from the scary jounin; in his place stood a confident young man wearing a devious smirk, gently pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Well, if I was found out by anybody, I'm at least glad it was you… Sharingan no Kakashi." When he shifted his spectacles the caught the light, completely whiting out Kabuto's eyes for a moment. "Shame, and Orochimaru-sama was so curious as to why his curse seal didn't take hold." Kakashi's eyes widened considerably at that little tid-bit, making Kabuto's smirk only grow as he shuffled backward subtly.

"What does Orochimaru want with Sasuke?" Kaksashi growled, matching the suddenly confident younger teen step for step as the medic-nin scattered around them. By now the blue glow in Kakashi's hand had erupted into a full Raikiri and stray arcs of electricity were erupting from his fist, leaving tiny craters in the floor where they struck.

"Oh, I couldn't pretend to see into the machinations of Orochimaru-sama's mind, but then, what does Sasuke have to offer anybody, really?" Kabuto diverted with a smirk, the greenish glow around his hands dying away as he backed off; Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"The Sharingan then." The silver-haired jounin muttered, more to himself than anybody else, although in the small room Kabuto heard him perfectly.

"Well yes, that would be what I'd assume as well." The teen shot back smarmily, shifting his glasses again as Kakashi's other hand balled into a fist.

"What is he planning?" The man tried to ask, only for at that exact moment a heavy explosion to go off somewhere overhead, shaking the room to the point where people had to throw their hands out to stabilise themselves. Kabuto on the other hand took the opportunity to grab a handful of scalpels resting on a nearby tray and flinging them at Kakashi with pinpoint precision. Kakashi just swiped at them with his lightning-infused hand, batting them away; however by then Kabuto had turned and fled from the room.

* * *

Naruto coughed into his hand as he used the other to wave away the black smoke that smothered the area once occupied by the arena wall. Now it was just rubble, a gaping hole that could have fit a boss summon through with ease. He was still 'surfing' Ramia's back as she slithered through the downed masonry and chunks of stone, looking for any sign of the opponent he had lost in the blast. He hadn't quite expected it to be quite _that _big when he created the capsule.

"Yeah, definitely got the calculations wrong." The blonde grumbled as the smoke began to lift and the dust settled, finally clearing his visibility beyond a few measly meters. The capsule was simple in theory and a little more difficult in practise. The basic idea was to stuff a small metal ball full of exploding notes, concentrating their blasts into one big boom. It was not quite _that _simple, but it was the general idea. The only reason it wasn't generally used was the cost; explosive tags were rather expensive; unless you would create them yourself that is.

Even without that Naruto had a rather steady flow of income now from Nami to provide the raw materials. He also used that flow of money for his puppet materials and tools but that was beside the point. Simple fact was that he knew his weapon at least worked; now it was simply an issue of refinement and getting the most explosive power from as few tags as possible… or the most bang for his buck as it were.

"Field test, success… I guess." Naruto surmised as he peered about, trying to catch a glimpse of the redhead somewhere in the rubble. If he was lucky he would have just been crushed, or blown up; but then a part of Naruto had to admit that sounded rather boring. He really should have been more careful about what he wished for because at that moment a thin tendril of sand suddenly wrapped around his ankle, flinging him off of his puppet. He was quick to react though, his fingers blurring as Ramia's tail shot round, the water cannon already cycling up as the thin stream of water neatly sliced through the tendril of sand particles, allowing Naruto to drop to the ground and roll to an ungraceful stop.

He was rather grateful for the water cannon at that point, although he had been forced to gut more than a few of Ramia's weapons, especially in her tail, to build and integrate it. Worth it though, definitely worth it; it could slice clean through trees and could gouge through stone in a few seconds; take _that_ Suiton Ninjutsu. Storage of the massive quantities actually proved to be the greatest issues in its construction; although as it tended to do, Fuinjutsu provided the answer. Storing a liquid proved to be rather difficult compared to objects all things considered.

However the blonde put that from his mind as he finally spotted his opponent come stumbling through the smoke, although not quite as he remembered him. Instead of the silently dangerous boy Naruto had been expecting to face, he only saw a maniacally grinning… thing. Half of his body, seemingly chosen at random, was covered in sand with blue-vein like patterns running across its surface. A massive spiky tail swung methodically behind him and one of his arms had been completely replaced by a fat, lumbering, clawed hand that looked like it better belonged to an animal.

The worst part was his face though; the sand had encroached across half of it, gruesomely widening his grin on one side where drool steadily dripped from vicious fangs. The eye on that side was also twisted, the sclera a jet black while the pupil was replaced by what appeared to be a yellow four-pointed Shuriken. In all, it looked as though Gaara was halfway through a transformation into some kind of monster. The blonde was almost tempted to remember this and use it in creating his next puppet.

However he was snapped out of his internal thoughts when a huge tendril of sand suddenly smashed down on his position; he was only able to get out of the way because he was already standing so close to Ramia and she was able to take the brunt of the impact. It became quickly obvious that if he didn't do something soon, then there would _be _no 'next puppet' to build. Gaara was not messing around anymore; the crazed, insane look in his remaining human eye told him that much.

"Your blood will feed Mother!" The boy cried out in a crazed, gravelly tone as another thick whip of sand smashed into the ground when Naruto had just been standing. This time he was at least wary and had the time to dodge, but he was not a physical person; if he was forced to keep ducking and weaving like this then he would tire and make a mistake. No, he had to take the offense or he would die here in this rubble-strewn area of Konoha.

The next time Gaara went for an attack, Ramia was suddenly there, her mouth opened as wide as it would go as she immediately spat wide globs of the same viscous substance that had been so effective in locking up Karasu's movements. Sure enough it hit the wall of sand bearing down on Naruto and basically froze it in place, the quick-drying adhesive bonding every molecule of sand together and preventing it from having the liquid flow Gaara needed to properly control it. Now all the boy had was a large block of sand, a large block that was swiftly shorn through by a thin jet of water.

Gaara cursed and hollered to this 'mother' he was talking about as the powerful stream of pressurized water gouged great channels across his sandy body. However even as Naruto chipped away at his defence, more sand rushed to replace what was damaged, encroaching further and further across the redhead's body. Naruto didn't particularly want to wait around to find out what the end result of this transformation was; it likely wouldn't be anything good for him.

"Yes that's it, show me your strength so that I can crush it!" The boy cried out again, only looking increasingly insane as almost all of his face was replaced by that sandy, animalistic mask. Naruto was forced to dodge again as the boy swiped his bulky, clawed hands at him, sending a massive barrage of shuriken composed entirely of sand. Naruto didn't assume for one second though that when they hit them they would act like sand was supposed to. His thoughts were conformed as he spotted one of them shear right through the concrete wall of a nearby building.

He dived onto Ramia's back, holding on tight as she slithered up a nearby wall and onto the rooftop, Gaara's crazed eyes following him the entire way. The Suna jinchuuriki was about to follow him but stumbled mid-step, crying out in an ear-splitting tone as the sand running along his back suddenly burst away from him like it was attached to an ejector seat. The redhead's manic eyes swivelled in their sockets as he turned, coming face to face with Arakune as the spider-like puppet distended its jaw improbably wide.

When the puppet spat another wad of innocuous clear liquid Gaara simply raised his arm, expecting another burst of adhesive and forgetting the pain he had just experienced not moments ago thanks to his hysteria. Instead of a harmless glue though, the liquid immediately began to hiss and steam as it struck the sand, eating right through it as Gaara's eyes widened in panic.

"W-What is it? It hurts Mother! It hurts!" Gaara screamed hysterically, waving his arm madly as the acid continued to corrode right through his sandy defence. Naruto grinned from the rooftops, thankful that the sand was actually reactive to Arakune's acid, not everything was. He guessed it was the Chakra that was controlling the sand causing the rather intense and, if Naruto said so himself, spectacular reaction. However at that point something just seemed to click in Gaara's mind and all at once the sand covering his body exploded outwards.

It pelted Arakune with small, razor-sharp bullets of sand that ricocheted in all direction but the spider-like puppet held up okay against the onslaught. For that brief instance though Gaara was completely unshielded and Naruto, from his vantage point outside the attacks area of effect, saw that perfectly well. Arakune immediately scuttled forward, her legs clicking ominously as she closed the distance between Gaara and herself in a matter of moments. Then all Gaara could see was a flurry of black.

Arakune worked furiously, rushing all around the small redhead as a thin, clear liquid was spewed from her abdomen, wrapping the boy up in increasingly tight threads that were hardening as fast as she was making them. Gaara struggled from the moment he felt something wet and sticky attach to his hand and he didn't stop all the way up to the end when only his eyes, darting about madly, could be seen from within the white bundle of spider-web he had become. The sand was still swirling around him ominously, as if confused about how to help its master, but it fell limply to the ground the moment Arakune bit into Gaara's neck, injecting a powerful sedative right into his bloodstream.

There were a few more frenzied moments of Gaara thrashing about before the boy's eyes turned drowsy and he slumped back into Arakune's awaiting arms, asleep. From up on the rooftop Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, feeling his target was adequately incapacitated. He even spared a look around at the chaos going on in the village; Konoha seemed to be pushing Suna and Oto back steadily. The damage to the buildings was only superficial at best, although the walls on the eastern side of the village had been completely caved in by what looked to be an enormous three-headed snake summon.

He was rudely ripped from his inspection though as the building he was standing on suddenly shook as though an earthquake had decided to rip through the village. Naruto wished it was only that though as it quickly became obvious the cause of the disturbance was in fact Gaara; which should have been impossible because the boy was still unconscious. However sure enough sand, in great deluges, began to pour out of the earth, seemingly cannibalising the ground itself to create more. He had Arakune back away as the sand fell over Gaara's prone body like a tidal wave, nearly flooding the street.

As his other puppet re-joined him by his side he could only watch in horror as the sand didn't just gather at Gaara's body, but began to grow, soaring upwards as those familiar blue marking began to snake across the surface of the construct. By the time it was finished Naruto was looking up at an enormous tanuki created entirely from sand. It towered over the surrounding buildings, its great beady eyes blinking for a moment before its massive maw split open in a wide grin.

Then it laughed; a great, thunderous noise that cut through the sounds of battle going on all around the village. Everybody looked up, regardless of nationality or occupation, everybody looked up at the monolithic creature of sand that had sprang up within the confines of the village's wall. They also watched, transfixed with a mixture of awe and fear, as it brought one of its distended, ugly hands up only to bring it crashing back down on top of the nearest building, luckily not the one Naruto was standing atop.

"**I'm free!" **Its voice was terrible, a high-pitched yet booming cry that rang out over the sounds of even the most powerful Jutsu. It shifted on its ungainly feet as its tail, the length of most clan compounds, crashed through an entire row of houses like they were built from match sticks. They were reduced to nearly nothing in an instant, rubble and great piles of sand were all that remained. This was carnage incarnate, destruction given form, and it froze Naruto in place as he watched it, wide-eyed.

"**Who should I kill first!?" **The blonde was only snapped out of it when the enormous tanuki shifted again, forcing the blonde back and away before the building he was on was shattered like so much piled glass. Suddenly the awe was gone from his face, replaced by an angry scowl as he watched the bijuu wreak even greater havoc on the village.

"Hey! I still need this village you giant sandy asshole!" It was rare for Naruto to lose his temper, but seeing the creature so indiscriminately tearing through _his_ village; it filled him with intense indignation. Ramia's arm suddenly separated into two, the hand folding back as a long, hollow tube slid from her wrist, pointed right up at the creatures face. With a dull 'thwup' she fired a single metal canister in a great arc up towards its lumbering, grinning head. It didn't quite make it that far, but it did catch on the beast's shoulder.

"**Argghh!" **Naruto watched with unhidden satisfaction as the canister erupted, this time a safe distance off the ground. The explosion visibly rippled through the air, spewing great gusts of flame and sand in all directions as the beast's arm was rather forcefully removed from the rest of its body, falling harmlessly in the centre of a street. Once again people looked up in shock and awe, wondering just what the hell had happened, none more so than the actual bijuu itself.

"**I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!" **It rambled madly as it swung its remaining arm in all directions, casually flicking away the jutsu a squad of ANBU had been sending its way. Naruto remembered the exact moment when the victorious satisfaction in him swiftly turned into unparalleled fear as the beast's madly swivelling eyes suddenly locked right onto his comparatively diminutive form.**"I'll kill **_**you,**_** you little bastard!" **It was enough to say that Naruto immediately regretted his rather rash decision; hindsight was twenty-twenty after all.

The blonde gulped as he suddenly found the beast's entire attention focused right on him; he supposed this was what he wanted… but he really didn't. It was only made worse as he saw sand beginning to drain upward, re-building the beast's right arm worryingly fast. However at the moment the beast's eyes narrowed dangerously his mind clicked into gear and suddenly he was moving, up and on Arakune's back as Ramia separated, going off in a different direction. There were a few more faint 'thwups' as the half-snake puppet slithered off followed by ear-shattering explosions as more parts of the giant tanuki were blown right off.

Its pained howls and the thundering sound of its footsteps as it reeled were like music to Naruto's ears as he vanished into the shadows of a nearby street. Unfortunately those parts too were regenerating from the plentiful earth all around the bijuu and it only seemed to be getting faster as time went on, meaning the tanuki was only getting more powerful. Naruto knew it had to have a weakness, everything had a weakness; even as he thought this he managed to spot a small red dot on the beast's forehead.

He peered closer only to realise it was Gaara, poking out of the Tanuki's forehead and conspicuously free of Arakune's webbing somehow. Yet oddly, he was still unconscious; Naruto simply decided to go for the long shot and say that waking him up might get rid of this creature. He was at a loss at what else to otherwise and luckily he had just the way. He grinned as his fingers danced, keeping a careful eye on Ramia as the puppet suddenly pivoted, tail flicking up in the beast's direction. The following water show was… disappointing to say the least.

Naruto must have used more water than he realised earlier because obviously the seals lining Ramia's tail were empty. He could refill them, but it would involve simply abandoning the bijuu to its rampage while he went to go and get some water from a lake he knew to occupy a nearby training ground. He grit his teeth for a moment , mind reeling even as the tanuki slowly regenerated; he needed to do something and now. Something big that could act as a distraction or even lure the sand construct over to the training ground itself.

All he had were his two puppets to work with; his puppets and a whole bunch of rubble… puppets… rubble.

Naruto's mind nearly ground to a halt as his eyes widened, new idea's surging through his mind; idiotic, completely crazy but brilliant ideas. His grin returned as Ramia slithered over to their position; he only had a few more seconds before the bijuu restored itself. His fingers twitched and two nearly identical flaps opened up in the back of Arakune and Ramia's necks. Carefully, very carefully, he removed two near identical metal capsules lined with seals from the slots and switched them around. Making his puppet's parts more modular and interchangeable was definably one of his better ideas.

Satisfied he was now prepared, the fingers of his right hand began to dance once more and Ramia slithered off; she would be the distraction. Ramia was armed with the explosive shells and now, Arakune's acid. She could move fast enough to dodge the large, clumsy attacks from the tanuki while peppering him with acid and explosions. It wouldn't last long though as both were in limited supply, so he'd have to act fast. Luckily the bijuu took the bait, angrily taking off after Ramia as the snake-like puppet led it closer to the village's wall.

In the meantime Naruto took stock of the rubble from houses and the stadium's wall all around him, his eyes glittering as he got to work. Arakune became rigid as he removed all but one Chakra thread from her body, the rest flicking up and grabbing a nearby lump of masonry, larger than Naruto was. He strained for a moment before picking up the chunk of rock, dumping it down atop another. Immediately Arakune did her job, firing out a wad of adhesive and binding the two lumps of rubble together. Already Naruto could see it coming together; it was going to be rough, it was going to be ugly, but the important thing was it was going to be big!

* * *

Shukaku snarled angrily at the tiny annoyance around his feet, slithering around just outside of his reach as it fired those enormous black things that caused him so much pain. Whenever he tried to grab the little worm it spat at him, but it wasn't normal spit! No, the worm's spit burned, it bubbled and ate at his precious sand, so Shukaku tried to crush the little worm instead. But the buildings were in the way, the worm was using them to hide so Shukaku crushed the buildings, grinning each time he thought he crushed the worm too.

The little people were also there, nothing more than ants, and they were annoying too. They threw fire to melt his sand and water to turn it to mud, but they might as well have been throwing rocks at him. His sand was everywhere, and he could always make more; he may have been the weakest of his siblings, but his body was infinite! No, the real irritation was the worm, the one the other little human had sent after him. The lumbering tanuki blinked, wondering where that little human had gone, the one that thought it could take his arm away.

He turned, only to see something rather curious; it was like a boulder, Shukaku had seen boulders before, but it was rather large… or was it just close? And why did it look so much like a fist?

The next thing Shukaku knew, half it face was caved in as the enormous fist of crumbling masonry and stone crashed right through his sandy body. He roared, or would have if half his mouth wasn't missing, instead if came out as more of a high-itched whine that was half-garbled. His face quickly regenerated and he got a better view of what had hit him. But Shukaku didn't have a word for this… thing, standing in front of him. It _was _standing, right?

It looked like the little humans that were such irritations, but it was far from little; it too towered over the buildings like Shukaku did, but not quite as high. Shukaku grinned at that as he took a lumbering step forward; it wasn't as big as him! He was bigger! Then the things fist slammed into his face again and Shukaku wasn't grinning anymore, no, he was snarling; he was angry!

"**I'll kill you!" **His garbled, venomous voice crying out over the sounds of fighting in the village; however as he reeled back, the massive stone man took a lumbering step forward to match him.

* * *

Naruto grinned proudly up at the monolithic man of rubble and stone he had managed to throw together; it wasn't at the scale of the rampaging bijuu but it was still larger than most of the buildings in Konoha, held together by a shaky mix of gravity, the last dregs of Arakune's adhesive and chemically-enhanced spider silk. Once again he threw out his thread, latching them onto strategic points across the things body as hastily carved seals began to light up. Almost immediately Naruto felt like somebody was ripping the energy directly out of his body and he had to remind himself why he had never tried to build a puppet this large before. The hastily-made seals were leeching at his Chakra like they were a fire and his energy was the oxygen.

However even with all that it refused to move; it may as well have just been a giant pile of rubble for all the use it was to him if it couldn't move! The blonde growled as he tried to pump more Chakra in, knowing it wasn't enough; no human could move this thing, it was impossible! But he had to, he had to move it or the beast would continue destroying the village. Normally Naruto wouldn't care; in fact he would tell himself that he did not care; but he only had one Konoha, he couldn't afford to lose it already.

He growled again, pumping more in, more Chakra, more energy… just more!

Then, as though some invisible lever had been pulled deep within his core, energy flooded through him; more than he had ever felt before, more than he knew could exist. It burned through his coils and the previously bright purple threads supporting the monolithic puppet burned a deep orange to match. Then, miraculously, the puppet moved; it took a lumbering, ponderous step forward, rubble and stone falling from its body with each movement. It was an ugly, misshapen, barely human-looking thing; but it was big, and it could move!

Oh, and apparently it could also punch quite effectively.

* * *

The blonde panted heavily, sweat dripping from his body and drenching his clothes as he finally stumbled into the training ground, or at least Ramia did. About two minutes ago he had lost the energy required to move his legs. Simply making his monolith move burned up his Chakra, including whatever this weird orange energy was, like fuel in a fire. However it had worked; the bijuu had taken the bait, following the enormous stone construct all the way out of the confines of the village and out into a nearby training ground.

The puppet had managed to lose one of its arms in the process, it slow and clumsy movements unable to keep up with Shukaku's attacks, but it did its job and occasionally got a punch in for revenge. However as it made that last step into the clearing, drawing the tanuki along with it, its job was complete. With an enormous sigh of relief Naruto finally allowed the threads to drop and just like that the stone titan collapsed to the ground with an almighty crash. Behind it the bijuu began to laugh, cackling madly as it finally saw its latest annoyance drop 'dead'. However the laugh turned into a grunt of annoyance as it spotted the small dot of a human down in the clearing.

"**You!" **Naruto simply grinned tiredly as Ramia dunked her head into the lake, drinking up the water greedily.

"Me." The blonde agreed as his puppet's tail flicked up, visibly vibrating from the intense amount of water being flooded through it at such high pressures. He had wondered what would happen if he tried to control one of his ordinary puppets with this new orange Chakra. The results were… rather spectacular.

Instead of a mere jet of water a few inches in diameter, what exploded from Ramia's tail was a concentrated deluge. In the ten seconds that it was active, because that was how long it took to drain the entire lake, more than half of the sand tanuki's body was reduced to an unusable sludge. That included its face, as a moment later Naruto spotted the small red dot that was Gaara falling through the air, flailing madly before hitting the ground with a rather sickening crunch.

The blonde allowed himself to breath a final sigh of relief as he slumped back on Ramia's body, letting the puppet support him as his fingers tiredly commanded it to slither over towards Gaara's prone form. Luckily he had been right, waking Gaara up had indeed stopped whatever the creature was; that the same wake-up had led to Gaara receiving what appeared to be a broken leg in the process only served as satisfaction.

"H-How?" The small Suna-nin managed through the pain as he clutched at his leg. "How did you beat it?" Naruto regarded Gaara for a few moments in confusion before patting the puppet underneath him.

"High powered water cannon; how else?" He joked weakly, feeling his consciousness slipping as he gave way to Chakra exhaustion; but he held on.

"No!" The redhead practically screamed before whimpering as he returned to his leg; it looked rather painful. "How did you beat the loneliness? You are like me!" At that the blonde's eyes narrowed intensely, his own exhaustion forgotten for the moment.

"What do you mean I'm like you?" However Gaara didn't even seem to hear him, still whimpering into his leg and apparently whispering soft apologies to the same 'mother' person he was talking to earlier.

"How? How? How did you beat it? How? I live for me, for mother. I live only for me. I love only me!" The boy was clearly insane, rambling to himself while clutching at his broken leg; however, for whatever reason, Naruto felt a pull, an urge to answer.

"Who says I am not lonely?" He growled out, fighting the sweet pull of unconsciousness as Gaara was seemingly snapped out of his insanity for just a moment, his bloodshot teal eyes darting up to Naruto's face. For the first time Naruto realised that the dark rings around the boy's eyes weren't just some kind of make-up, they were signs of sleep-deprivation. "But I'm nothing like you." He concluded, feeling himself slip with every passing moment.

"B-But then…" Gaara tried, but apparently the words wouldn't come.

"A long time ago I decided that if people would not acknowledge me, then I did not need them; my own acknowledgement is enough. But it's never enough, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself." At this point Naruto wasn't sure if he was talking to Gaara, or himself; it was obviously the exhaustion. "So instead, I decided I'd make others that _had _to acknowledge me, because I control them." Gaara nodded slowly; apparently something in there got through to him.

"Y-You mean the puppets?" His own voice was getting weaker as he too succumbed to the pain of his injury and slipped away into unconsciousness. As his eyes slid closed and he fell away into the blackness he missed Naruto's mysterious, if not tired smile.

"Sure… the puppets." The blonde chuckled once, then fell backwards, finally allowing the sweet darkness of sleep to wash over him, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips.


End file.
